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Henry Ford. 



The Truth About 

Henry Ford 

BY 

SARAH T. BUSHNELL 




Chicago 
The Reilly & Lee Co. 



CTV/ts 



Copyright, 1922 
By 
The Reilly & Lee Co. J 



All Bights Reserved 



Made in U. #. A. 



MAR -3 '922 ' 



The Truth About Henry Ford 
©CIA 6 59075 

V 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I His Childhood and 

School Days 11 

II The City Beckons 25 

III His Courtship and Mar- 

riage 31 

IV The First Car and the 

First Race . . 40 

V The Story of Magical 

Success . . . . 58 

VI The Peace Ship 76 

VII The Ford - Newberry 

Senatorial Campaign. 97 

VIII The Chicago Tribune 

Libel Suit 132 

IX Henry Ford's Interest- 
ing Personality 147 

X His Wife and His 

Home 169 

XI The Ford Factory, 
Foundry and Trade 
School 189 

XII His " Honest-to- Good- 
ness Americanism ". . .200 



WHY IT IS "THE TRUTH 



In publishing this biographical 
sketch, I wish to acknowledge my 
gratitude for the co-operation of Mrs. 
Henry Ford and of prominent Detroit- 
ers who were associated with Mr. Ford 
in his early days — among them being 
James Couzens, A. Y. Malcomson, 
Horace Rackham, E. G. Pipp, C. A. 
Brownell and others. 

From Mrs. Henry Ford, I secured 
most of the data. She personally 
helped me to secure accurate and au- 
thentic information. For months she 
gave me liberally of her time in order 
that I might compile this volume and 
verify my facts. This assistance en- 
tailed a sacrifice, for she shuns pub- 
licity, heartily dislikes any attempt to 



Why It Is the Truth 

draw her into the limelight and objects 
to having her name appear in print. 

Mr. Malcomson's financial support 
made Mr. Ford's success possible. 
Had there been no Alexander Mal- 
comson and no James Couzens, the 
inventive genius of Henry Ford prob- 
ably never would have reached the 
heights it has. From Mr. Couzens, I 
secured the figures of the stock sub- 
scribed by the first Ford stockholders. 
Mr. Pipp, widely known as the former 
editor of the Detroit News, was most 
kind and generous in assisting me on 
certain difficult and important points. 
I am indebted to Mr. Brownell for 
his friendly help and interest, He was 
for many years an executive officer of 
the Ford Company. 

In this little book I have tried to 
include only points which are fre- 
quently discussed and to use carefully 
only the information which I secured 
directly from those who have been 



Why It Is the Truth 

closest to Mr. Ford for the past twenty 
years. To all who assisted me, I am 
sincerely grateful and I take this 
method of acknowledging my appre- 
ciation. 

The Author. 



The Truth About 
Henry Ford 

CHAPTER I. 

His Childhood and School Days 

Henry Ford belongs to that 
stern, strong, creative generation of 
Americans that has served our 
country so well in the critical days 
of its national development. He 
has the simple faith, the sturdy 
life, the unflagging industry, the 
love of family that typify the best 
Americans. This brief chronicle of 
some of the vital periods of his 
life will give his fellow country- 
men a clearer understanding of the 
character and purposes of the man. 
* * # # 

Two years after Michigan be- 
ll 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

came a state the first link in the 
railroad connecting Detroit and 
Chicago was built to Dearborn- 
ville, then a small village ten miles 
from Detroit. In those early days 
the settlers drove to " town " in 
ox carts over corduroy roads that 
they themselves had built with logs 
from the surrounding forests. The 
coming of the first train was, there- 
fore, a great day in Dearbornville. 
The pioneers gathered in the shade 
of the stockade walls of the arsenal 
and debated the new invention. 
There were many pessimists among 
them who were sure that the crude 
locomotive of that time would 
never be of practical value. Wil- 
liam Cremer had wagered that his 
white faced sorrel mare could out- 
run the iron horse in a race from 
Ten Eyck's tavern to the village; 
and it did, William reining in his 

12 



His Childhood and School Days 

horse at the arsenal before the train 
came in. 

In the group that witnessed this 
triumph of the horse and the sub- 
sequent arrival of the train was 
a young lad, William Ford, who 
lived between Dearbornville and 
Fort Wayne — a post where U. S. 
Grant was stationed a few years 
later as a lieutenant. William 
Ford had recently come over from 
Ireland. The twinkle in his blue 
eyes, the glow in his cheek and 
his ready wit told that, but his 
speech and his manners spoke of 
his English ancestry. He had 
cleared and put under cultivation 
the land where he lived, and some 
years later married Mary Litogot, 
the daughter of his nearest neigh- 
bor. In the five years that fol- 
lowed five children came to bless 
their home. 

13 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

On July 30 in the third year 
of the Civil War, Henry Ford was 
born and was named after his uncle 
who owned an adjoining farm. 
The war and the still wonderful 
iron horse were general topics of 
conversation in the days of Henry 
Ford's childhood. He heard the 
grim tragedies of the conflict 
retold; he knew many of the sol- 
diers at the arsenal and he often 
saw bluecoated army officers splash- 
ing along the road to Detroit. As 
he grew older he accompanied his 
parents when they drove to the 
small Episcopal church in Dear- 
born where William Ford was a 
vestryman and where the services 
were conducted by the army chap- 
lain from Fort Wayne. Thus war 
had its part in his boyhood as in 
the later days of his life. 

The five Ford children attended 

14 



His Childhood and School Days 

the old Scotch settlement school 
when very small, and when Dear- 
born and Springwells townships 
were laid out they went to the 
Springwells school. Every day 
that weather permitted, the five 
children walked the two and a 
half miles to the Springwells school 
where they were taught reading, 
writing, spelling, geography and 
arithmetic. No attention was paid 
to history even though it was then 
in the making. The schoolmaster 
was Mr. Brush whose son Alonzo 
Brush, a playmate of the Ford 
children, was years later the inven- 
tor of the Brush automobile. 
Henry Ford's deskmate was Edsel 
Ruddiman, who for twenty-five 
years has been Dean of Chemistry 
at Vanderbilt University and after 
whom Henry Ford's only son is 
named. James Ruddiman, Edsel's 

15 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

brother, later married Mr. Ford's 
sister. 

One of the earliest childhood 
recollections of Henry Ford is his 
longing to see the iron horse that 
he could hear a mile away beyond 
the woods. A frail child, he had 
been forbidden to venture away 
from his home alone, so he would 
climb to a fence top when he heard 
the distant whistle and try to make 
out the strange machine as it toiled 
over the grades. His childish imag- 
ination could not believe that the 
ugly, silent monster of iron that he 
saw when occasionally he went to 
the village with his parents could 
be the fiery thing that whooped 
through the woods like an Indian 
— and in those days it was said 
that Chief Pontiac still roamed the 
forests of the region. 

Henry Ford showed early in life 

16 



His Childhood and School Days 

that interest in machinery that 
shaped his later career. The story 
runs — and although it is fiction it 
may be repeated here — that when 
six years old Henry eluded his 
father and mother one Sunday 
morning as they were entering 
church, and was found later trying 
to put together a playmate's watch 
which he had taken apart. At 14 the 
lad was confirmed in the village 
church by the bishop and to this day 
he frequently attends service there. 
There are many authentic stories 
of his boyhood interest in mechan- 
ics. About the time he was ten or 
twelve years old he developed a 
great interest in the steaming tea- 
kettle that sang and jiggled on the 
kitchen stove. While the other chil- 
dren romped outdoors Henry kept 
close to the hot wood stove, watch- 
ing with the round eyes of child- 

17 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

hood as the steam lifted the kettle 
top and rattled the lids of the 
vegetable saucepans. In the dining 
room of the Ford home was an 
old fashioned fire place. One day 
Henry secured a thick earthenware 
teapot which he filled with water; 
then he stuffed the spout with 
paper and tied down the lid. 

" Now let's see if you can lift 
that lid, old Mr. Steam/' he said 
as he thrust the teapot close to the 
fire. Then he sat down to see what 
Mr. Steam could do. An explosion, 
followed by a child's cry of pain, 
soon brought Mrs. Ford running 
from the kitchen. Scattered about 
the room were the fragments of the 
teapot. One piece had shattered a 
window pane, another had broken 
a mirror, while a third had cut a 
gash in Henry Ford's head. His 
face, too, was badly scalded. To 

18 



His Childhood and School Days 

this day a faint scar remains to 
show what Mr. Steam did. 

Mary Ford possessed that quick 
understanding sympathy of the 
true mother. " My dear child/' she 
said after the wound had been at- 
tended to, " I am afraid you are 
going to hurt yourself many times 
if you try to imprison steam or 
make other experiments/ 5 

After the children had been put 
to bed that night she told her hus- 
band of the incident. " Henry is 
eaten up with curiosity/ 5 she de- 
clared. " He asks questions I could 
not answer in a thousand years. 
I am afraid he is different from the 
other boys; they are satisfied with 
explanations, but Henry has to in- 
vestigate everything for himself. 
I wish you would watch him closely 
when he gets near machinery. I am 
worried about him whenever he 

19 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

goes to the barn, for he doesn't 
know the meaning of fear." 

Some time later his parents no- 
ticed that Henry was not returning 
from school until twilight. Inquiry 
brought out the following explana- 
tion: Near the school was a creek 
bordered by twisted weeping wil- 
lows, whose cool shade afforded a 
delightful place for boys to lounge 
and plan the great things of boy- 
hood. While the other pupils spent 
their noon hour in games, Henry 
Ford and his group of chums busied 
themselves in building a dam across 
the creek with stones and other ma- 
terials gathered from the nearby 
fields. When the dam was done 
they fashioned a rude water wheel 
that revolved with gratifying rap- 
idity. But the dam caused the 
waters of the creek to back up and 
this brought protests from the 

20 



His Childhood and School Bays 

farmers. Schoolmaster Brush or- 
dered the youthful engineers to 
tear out the dam. " When this is 
done/' he concluded, " Henry, who 
is your ring-leader, can remain with 
me after school each day until I tire 
of his company. 5 ' And that was 
why Henry returned home each 
evening at twilight. 

Today Mr. Ford counts among 
his most treasured possessions a pic- 
ture of the old creek showing the 
dam and the water wheel and a 
group of his long ago companions 
sitting in the shade of the willows. 
Mr. Ford's keen interest in water 
power still persists. He has trav- 
eled through Michigan and other 
states buying water rights and sites 
for dams, and is formulating plans 
for locating small industries in 
country districts where water 
power can be developed. 

21 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

At one time John Haggerty was 
Henry Ford's desk mate at the 
Springwells school. One afternoon 
the two boys, hidden behind their 
open geographies, were busy dis- 
secting a watch. At the most inter- 
esting point in their investigation 
the sheltering geographies fell with 
a bang and their occupation was 
revealed. Mr. Brush surveyed them 
sadly. " Now, John/' he said at 
length, " I will trouble you and 
Henry to bring me that watch. 
You are sent here to get book 
learning. The idea of big boys like 
you, almost 16 years old, playing 
like children. You can stay after 
school and try to put the insides 
of that watch back like they were 
before you began to meddle with it. 
You might as well learn right now 
that it is wrong to start anything 
and leave it unfinished/' 

22 



His Childhood and School Days 

When Henry was 14 his mother 
died and the little family was over- 
whelmed with grief. With the fine 
courage of the early settlers Marga- 
ret Ford, the oldest daughter, took 
up the labors and responsibilities 
of the household, and the father 
did all he could to fill the mother's 
place, but the family life was sadly 
changed. Mary Ford was a re- 
markable woman; she taught all 
her children that to be useful to 
their country and community was 
the best of all ambitions, and she 
imbued them with noble princi- 
ples and ideals. At 18 or 19, when 
she married William Ford, she was 
a rosy-cheeked, dark-haired, beauti- 
ful girl, calm, well poised and 
courageous. In those years a moth- 
er's tasks were many and heavy, 
especially in the country districts. 
Mrs. Ford met each day's problems 

23 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

with a cheerfulness that made her 
seem wonderful in the eyes of her 
son, Henry. She taught him that 
he must not drink, smoke or gam- 
ble, and to these teachings he has 
remained steadfast all his life. She 
impressed upon him that he must 
be true to conscience and duty, and 
she taught him that courage which 
bore fruit in after years. 

At 17 Henry Ford finished the 
eighth grade at the Springwells 
school and a year later he set out 
for the city, Detroit. 



24 



CHAPTER II. 

The City Beckons 

Like most active country boys 
Henry Ford had made for himself 
a tool shop, where he spent many 
busy, happy hours on the farm. So 
adept did he become that as he 
grew older he became the general 
handy man for the neighboring 
farmers. He fixed many broken 
farm implements and before he was 
18 he was in charge of his father's 
saw mill. But the city called him 
and he went. 

Alone and unknown, he secured 
a job with the Flower Manufactur- 
ing company, engaged in the mak- 
ing of steam engines and em- 
ploying more than a hundred men. 
The company was at that time one 

25 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

of Detroit's largest manufactur- 
ing concerns. His apprenticeship 
there was practically a course in 
mechanical engineering, and he was 
paid $2.50 a week. This was less 
than William Ford paid his hands 
on the farm and did not cover the 
cost of Henry's room and board in 
the city. But the place had this 
compensation: It brought him op- 
portunities that were out of reach 
on the farm. He could spend his 
idle hours in the city library among 
the companions he valued most of 
all — the books and journals on 
mechanical engineering. To sup- 
plement his " salary " he made ar- 
rangements with a jeweler whereby 
he could repair watches. That was 
one of the red-letter days of his 
youth, rivaling that other when he 
was allowed to mend a neighbor's 
sewing machine. 

26 



The City Beckons 

He worked hard and long, his 
two occupations keeping him busy 
from seven in the morning until six 
at night and from seven until bed- 
time. For nine months he was 
thus employed, steam engines and 
watches filling his waking hours 
and quickening the many ideas that 
filled his mind, awake and asleep. 

Someone has said that " inven- 
tion travels in thought waves. It is 
possible for two or more inventors, 
hundreds of miles apart, to be 
working on the same problem with- 
out any knowledge that someone 
else is engaged on the same proj- 
ect/' It was about this time that 
the restless desire began to formu- 
late itself in Henry Ford's brain to 
build a vehicle that would compete 
with the iron horse o£ childhood 
memory. 

After seven months in the em- 

27 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

ploy of the Flower Manufacturing 
company young Ford went to work 
for the Drydocks Engine company, 
whose specialty was marine ma- 
chinery. He was doing well, and 
opportunity for advancement was 
just ahead when one day came 
word from his father urging him to 
return to the farm. William Ford 
said that his health was poor, that 
he was growing old, the farm hands 
were becoming careless and indif- 
ferent and beyond his ability to 
manage. He needed his boy, he 
said$ to care for the home place. It 
was a blow to the young man in 
Detroit, but his mother's teachings 
made his decision certain. Putting 
aside ambition, he answered the 
call of filial duty and gave up his 
place in the city to return to the 
farm where he was needed. This 
summons, as will be seen later on, 

28 



The City Beckons 

was the turning point in his life. 

Brief mention will not be out of 
place here of the other sons of Wil- 
liam Ford. When Henry went to 
Detroit, John Ford remained on 
the farm. Some time later he be- 
came a member of the Springwells 
school board, a position he retains 
to this day. William Ford, another 
brother, became in later years 
Mayor of Dearborn and member of 
the Dearborn school board. 

Today two miles from the old 
Ford homestead can be seen the tall 
smokestacks of the great River 
Rouge foundry. This gigantic 
plant, owned by Henry Ford, was 
used during the world war as a 
naval station, and also in the mak- 
ing of the Eagle boats and subma- 
rine chasers. These boats were 
launched directly into the River 
Rouge and made the long voyage 

29 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

through the Detroit river, Lake 
Erie and Lake Ontario, through the 
Welland canal and down the St. 
Lawrence river to the sea — and 
service. But that is getting ahead 
of the story. 



30 



CHAPTER III. 

His Courtship and Marriage 

Up to this time Henry Ford had 
rough-hewn his life; now Destiny 
stepped in and began to shape his 
career. He spent the spring, sum- 
mer and autumn following his re- 
turn in plowing, planting and har- 
vesting on his father's farm. But 
Fate was preparing a reward for 
his self-sacrifice and entrusting the 
details to Romance. Henry soon 
again became a favorite in the 
countryside, his city-learned ways 
adding to his popularity. When 
winter came he showed that he was 
still the best skater in the neighbor- 
hood. " In those days," as an old- 
timer has said, " no one went to 
Florida or California in winter. 

31 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

Instead they stayed at home and 
enjoyed the best sports of the 
year/' 

Henry bought a bright red cut- 
ter. As it sped over the smooth 
roads with many bells a- jingle, it 
was generally admitted that he was 
the best " catch M of the neighbor- 
hood. But that opinion was not 
unanimous; five miles away, in 
Greenfield township, lived Clara 
Bryant, local belle and beauty, 
w r ith beaux a-plenty. She cared not 
a snap of her pretty fingers for 
Henry Ford, his city ways and his 
new cutter — and she made no se- 
cret of her opinion. 

Naturally such indifference chal- 
lenged young Ford's attention and 
quickened his interest. He forgot 
Detroit and mechanics and set 
about accomplishing a bigger un- 
dertaking. His red cutter was an 

32 



His Courtship and Marriage 

asset of which he made effective 
use ; good - naturedly he carried 
many a laughing crowd to and 
from the skating parties. At the 
Greenfield club one evening he 
quietly produced a curious watch, 
the like of which the countryside 
had never seen. It had two sets of 
hands and recorded both standard 
and sun time. As he displayed this 
wonder he dropped vague hints of 
other and greater inventions. 

" Mother/' said Clara Bryant the 
morning after the Greenfield club 
party, " Henry Ford is different 
form the rest of our crowd. He 
can invent the most interesting 
things. He is the best skater and 
he dances as well as he skates. We 
sat out two dances last night be- 
cause I wanted to see a watch he 
had made. It is the queerest watch 
you ever saw. He says he is going 

33 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

to make something else and let me 
see it." 

Mrs. Bryant, wise mother that 
she was, said nothing. She was 
acquainted with her daughter's sud- 
den enthusiasms. 

During that winter Henry Ford 
invented his first tractor, although 
it did not bear that modern name. 
It was a machine to use in plowing 
and harvest time, and it was fash- 
ioned out of an old wagon body, 
some wagon tires, harrow teeth and 
other pieces of discarded farm ma- 
chinery. As he toiled over his new 
machine the young inventor did 
not dream that in later years his 
name would be known 'round the 
world wherever ground is broken 
and harvests gathered. About this 
time he took a course in Gold- 
smith's college in Detroit, but study 
and invention did not crowd one 

34 



His Courtship and Marriage 

other plan out of his active mind. 

' Father/' he asked when he was 
twenty-four years old, " if I should 
marry what part of the land would 
be mine? " 

" I'll do for you just as I in- 
tended to do for John and Wil- 
liam/' his father replied. " You 
can have enough timber to build a 
house and can have eighty acres 
facing Recknor road. When I'm 
gone there will be forty acres more 
for each of you children/' 

The son went about his courtship 
with the determination and en- 
thusiasm that marked his undertak- 
ings in mechanics. Likewise he set 
about the building of a home for 
his future bride. Such methods 
could not fail and Henry Ford and 
Clara Bryant were married one 
April day in 1888. Their new 
home, a modern structure with 

35 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

broad verandas, was ready for 
them. It stood in the midst of roll- 
ing farm land, with its red dairy 
and barns grouped at the rear. For 
three years the young couple dwelt 
there in happiness. The husband 
was busy with his farm work, but 
the hum of machinery still was 
music to his ears. In this time he 
built three saw mills and often he 
was to be seen sitting in the shade 
of a spreading oak figuring with 
pencil and paper ; often, too, he was 
busy in his tool house with odds 
and ends of machinery. 

One evening came the revealing 
of his great resolve. "Clara," he 
said, " it looks as if I could not 
stand the farm any longer. I'll 
have to go back to Detroit and 
begin work on my horseless car- 
riage. I can't do much on it here." 

His young wife was aghast. Her 

36 



His Courtship and Marriage 

glance took in the many comforts 
of their home, the opened piano 
with its sheets of music, the cheer- 
ful fire on the hearth, the large 
carved armchair that her mother 
had brought from Warwick, Eng- 
land, the old-fashioned English 
clock that William Ford had given 
them as a wedding present. She 
loved that cozy home, and she 
never had heard of a horseless car- 
riage. Was her husband losing his 
mind? 

' Why, Henry/' she exclaimed, 
t€ you are the best farmer around 
here. Your engine is a wonder — 
and whoever heard of a horseless 
carriage ! " 

" Bring me a pencil and a large 
piece of paper and I will show you 
what it is," her husband replied. 

From the piano where she had 
been playing she took a piece of 

37 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

music. On the wide, white back of 
the sheet Henry Ford drew with 
quick, sure strokes, until to his wife 
leaning over his shoulder the 
strange vehicle took form and sem- 
blance. He explained each part as 
he drew it, his eyes sparkling, his 
hand trembling with his enthusi- 
asm. As he pictured the vehicle to 
her it did not seem improbable. He 
spoke of the motive power of steam 
cars, steamboats and fire engines; 
he talked confidently of resilience 
and gasoline. It was midnight be- 
fore he finished and then his wife 
had caught his enthusiasm. 

"If you want to go back to De- 
troit we'll manage it somehow/' she 
promised him. 

Soon they were house hunting in 
town and found on Bagley street, 
then in a residential district but 
now a business thoroughfare, the 

38 , 



His Courtship and Marriage 

home they wanted. It was a small 
building with a large red, brick barn 
which would serve as a workshop. 
They soon moved to the city and 
Mr. Ford, then twenty-eight years 
old, went to work for the Edison 
company. He had, in addition, an 
income from his farm and three 
saw mills and was not a poor man. 
However, he had to make the most 
of time, money, material and effort. 
Mrs. Ford was sympathetic and op- 
timistic and she was a great help 
to him in those days when his home 
surroundings were such a factor in 
keeping his hopes high and his 
determination unshaken. It was by 
good management and hard work 
that he rubbed Aladdin's Lamp and 
became one of the world's richest 
and most famous men. 



39 



CHAPTER IV. 

The First Car and the First Race 

For two years that horseless car- 
riage " ate its head off/' Always it 
consumed money, money, more 
money. Bicycle wheels were bought 
for it, but all other parts had to 
be made to order and by hand. And 
often these parts would not fit and 
had to be made over. But Henry 
Ford never grew discouraged, never 
lost confidence in the ultimate suc- 
cess of his invention. And then — 
at 2 o'clock on a rainy morning 
in April, 1893, the task was done 
and the vehicle ready for a test. 
Despite the darkness and down- 
pour Mr. Ford would not delay. 
With no idea of what that strange 
machine might do, Mrs. Ford 

40 



The First Car and the First Race 

caught up an umbrella and fol- 
lowed her husband to the street. 

As he clanked away all sorts of 
fears assailed her. If the machine 
did not kill him he probably would 
die of pneumonia. The noise of the 
vehicle would awaken the neigh- 
bors. She wished for the moment 
that she had not encouraged him in 
his work. As her mind recalled the 
days and months of study and 
labor, a loud noise heralded her 
husband's safe return. The horse- 
less carriage would go! Flushed 
with pride and excitement, the in- 
ventor pushed the strange little 
machine into the barn, locked the 
doors and went into the house. He 
drank a glass of hot milk, spread 
his dripping clothes before the fire 
and went calmly to bed to enjoy 
the best rest he had known since 
their return to the city. 

41 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

In the days and weeks that fol- 
lowed friends and neighbors flocked 
to see the new vehicle. Mr. and 
Mrs. Ford created a sensation every 
time they rode through the streets; 
in the country horses dashed into 
ditches or fences when the horseless 
carriage approached. Country peo- 
ple regarded them much as they did 
a circus. Every time the vehicle 
was dragged from the barn Mrs. 
Ford made some excuse for accom- 
panying her husband on his ride. 
She was optimistic by nature, but 
she felt that sooner or later some 
accident would occur — and she 
wanted to be with him then. He 
was anxious to test the machine's 
hill-climbing powers. The neigh- 
borhood was largely flat and the 
one hill in Wayne street was too 
near the river to make a test pru- 
dent. So Mr. and Mrs. Ford drove 

42 



The First Car and the First Race 

ten miles around the boulevard to 
the graded approach to the viaduct. 
Mrs. Ford said nothing of her fears 
but waited. The little car did not 
tip over or roll backward down the 
grade, but slowly, inch by inch, it 
gained the top. 

Those were the days when every- 
one rode a bicycle and Woodward 
avenue was thronged with men and 
women on their wheels. One day 
as Mr. and Mrs. Ford were making 
their slow progress along the boule- 
vard a bicyclist — a " scorcher " — 
approached their car. So aston- 
ished was he at sight of the strange 
contrivance that he fell under the 
Ford car. The two occupants were 
terrified. Mr. Ford urged the fallen 
cyclist to lie still; then he and his 
wife hastily got out. A wondering 
crowd gathered. There was but one 
thing to do and that must be done 

43 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

quickly. Carefully Mr. Ford lifted 
the car off the fallen rider, who 
scrambled to his feet unhurt, while 
the crowd roared with laughter. As 
Mr. Ford wiped the perspiration 
from his forehead he remarked, 
" That was a close call for us." 

Later came another unpleasant 
adventure. The proudest posses- 
sion of a wealthy resident of Bos- 
ton boulevard was a pair of fine 
driving horses. The first time those 
horses saw the new car they snorted, 
reared and bolted. Their owner's 
wrath was almost beyond words as 
he threatened to have Mr. Ford 
arrested for causing the runaway. 
Years after this same Detroiter told 
of the incident with much amuse- 
ment. He had called Mr. Ford " a 
public nuisance " for driving an 
automobile in the street. 

Long afterward Mr. Ford saw in 

44 



The First Car and the First Race 

a French magazine a picture of a 
car which a Frenchman had in- 
vented and which was called an 
'automobile/' This was the first 
time he ever heard the word that 
everyone knows today. 



Before long others than Mr. 
Ford were convinced that the horse- 
less vehicle was a practical com- 
mercial proposition, and a company 
was organized in Detroit with Mr. 
Ford as the chief engineer. But at 
the end of the year little progress 
had been made in perfecting the 
machine and it was decided to let 
Mr. Ford go and employ another 
draftsman. This company later 
became the Cadillac Motor Com- 
pany. Mr. Ford's car was returned 
to him and the inventor organized 
a company of his own. This sec- 

45 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

ond venture likewise proved a fail- 
ure, but reverses served to strength- 
en Mr. Ford's confidence in the 
future of his invention. 

He decided to perfect a racing 
car, sold his original machine and 
devoted all his energies to devising 
a car that would establish a speed 
record. Rumors of his new plans 
spread and many Detroiters visited 
the Ford shop to inspect the new 
marvel — that was to be. Tom 
Cooper, the champion bicycle rider, 
visited Detroit and offered his co- 
operation and financial assistance. 
Cooper later was killed in an auto- 
mobile accident in Central Park, 
New York. An interesting story 
of this period has to do with one 
" Coffee Jim " and his financing of 
the first Ford racer. The story, sad 
to relate, is unfounded ; a man who 
operated a night lunch car in De- 

46 



The First Car and the First Race 

troit took a great interest in Mr. 
Ford's work, but advanced him no 
money. The financing of the racer, 
which was called 999, came from 
the farms in Springwells and Dear- 
born township. 

Mrs. Ford has vivid recollections 
of that period. " Expenses were so 
great that I thought we never 
again would have any money for 
ourselves," she said. 

Work on the car went steadily 
on, for a race had been arranged 
and Mr. Ford was eager to win it. 
To test the carburetors a steep 
grade was necessary and the steep- 
est the inventor could find was in 
the cemetery. Here the final tests 
were made and the car was finished 
on the day set for the race, which 
was held on the Grosse Pointe race 
track, ten miles away. For days 
Alexander Winton had been on the 

47 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

ground with his car tuning it up 
for the great event. No other cars 
were entered, but a hilarious crowd 
was present to see the strange con- 
test. The Winton car was finely 
finished and the low-slung, strange 
looking 999 seemed outclassed. But 
the race is not always to the beau- 
tiful, and 999 won. 

In 1902 Mr. Ford began experi- 
menting with a two-cylinder car. 
The work was carried on in a small 
wooden shop on Park avenue and 
Grand River, back of the Parker 
and Webb building. The messenger 
and handy man about the place was 
John Wandersee; Gus Degner was 
the mechanic, and C. H. Wills 
was draftsman and " boss " of the 
" force." The wages paid averaged 
twenty-two cents an hour. Mr. 
Ford gave up his position as coal 
buyer for the Edison company and 

48 



The First Car and the First Race 

devoted all his time to the new 
car. One of his friends was Alex- 
ander G. Malcomson, a prominent 
Detroit coal man. Mr. Malcomson 
was greatly interested in Mr. 
Ford's project and often visited the 
shop. Sometimes he was accom- 
panied by his bookkeeper, James 
Couzens, in whose judgment he 
had great confidence. 

One day Mr. Malcomson re- 
marked to Mr. Ford, " Henry, my 
boy, you are working mighty hard, 
but 3'ou are not getting ahead fast 
enough. What you need is a bar- 
rel of money/ 5 

Henry Ford's gray eyes twinkled. 
' I reckon Fll have to make haste 
slowly/ 5 he replied. " I've tried 
two companies already and it looks 
like I am too adventuresome. I'd 
better stick to the slow pace I am 
following now. If we could build 

49 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

a lot of machines and make them 
cheap enough all of us working in 
this little shop would be rich/' 

' You've got grit and it takes 
grit to put over a new idea/' de- 
clared Malcomson. " Fve had my 
eyes open and before you know it 
Haynes, Duryea and Winton will 
be so far ahead that you'll never 
catch up. It looks like we'll be 
obliged to organize a company — a 
big company. We ought to get to- 
gether a hundred thousand dollars ; 
that would be enough to start the 
wheels going. I would be willing 
to put up about twenty thousand 
in cash. You can put in old 999/' 
and he pointed to a corner where 
the machine stood. " You've used 
up a deal of money in your experi- 
ments — I expect you have spent 
all of seven thousand, and your 
time has been worth a lot. Suppose 

50 



The First Car and the First Race 

we start in as equal partners; I'll 
furnish the money and you the hard 
work — and genius/' 

Henry Ford, a joker himself, 
feared his friend was jesting. "And 
then what? ' was his guarded 
question. 

c Why then, we'll move this big 
working force of yours over to a 
building in Mack avenue. I'm 
nearly proof positive I can organize 
a company. Jimmy Couzens has 
saved up about two thousand dol- 
lars. He is young and level-headed 
and can afford to take a chance. 
Besides, Jimmy knows a lot about 
business. I'll add him to the force 
and I'll peddle the stock. We can 
try it anyway. If we fail — 9i 

"We won't fail," Henry Ford 
interrupted; " we can't fail. We'll 
either succeed or I'll die in the at- 
tempt." He shut his lips grimly; 

51 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

then a cheerful smile appeared and 
he added, ' 'we can have a lot of fun 
doing the thing right/' 

Even at that time it was Mr. 
Ford's idea to make good cars in 
large numbers and for a low price. 
In a few months the plant was 
moved to the Mack building and 
Mr. Ford was enabled to devote all 
his time to perfecting his machine. 
The astounding success of the Ford 
company dates from that day. 

It is interesting to note the rise 
of the men who worked with Ford 
at that time. As the business grew 
Mr. Ford sent John Wandersee all 
over the country to investigate and 
study chemistry, and today Mr. 
Wandersee is head chemist at the 
Highland Park plant of the Ford 
company. Gus Degner is superin- 
tendent of inspection at the same 
plant. Harold Wills was sent 

52 



The First Car and the First Race 

about the country to study steel. It 
is he who invented molybdenum, 
the toughest and lightest of steels. 
At the time of the Chicago Tribune 
libel trial it was testified that Mr. 
Wills had received a salary of 
$80,000 a year for some years. Mr. 
Wills is now a motor car man- 
ufacturer himself. Enough has 
been said here to show that these 
men, although they did not buy 
stock in the Ford company have 
been rewarded with salaries and 
bonuses that have made them rich. 
They have shared in Henry Ford's 
prosperity just as if they had 
shared in the original financial risk. 
Mr. Couzens invested twenty- 
five hundred dollars in the com- 
pany and organized and directed 
five departments — bookkeeper, 
time clerk, purchasing agent, sales 
manager and business manager, but 

53 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

he had no assistants; he did all the 
work. Mr. Malcomson found it 
more difficult than he had expected 
to sell the company's stock, but 
finally secured the following pur- 
chasers : 

John S. Gray, a rich candy mak- 
er, who put in ten thousand, five 
hundred dollars in cash. 

John Anderson of the law firm 
of Anderson & Rackham, attorneys 
for the company, who invested five 
thousand dollars. 

Horace Rackham, his partner, 
who likewise invested five thousand 
dollars. 

Albert Shelow, who invested five 
thousand dollars and later sold his 
holdings to Mr. Couzens for twen- 
ty-five thousand. 

V. C. Fry and C. H. Bennett, 
who bought five thousand dollars' 
worth of stock each and later sold 

54 



The First Car and the First Race 

out to Mr Ford and Mr. Couzens 
for twenty-five thousand each. 

Alexander G. Malcomson, who 
put in twenty-five thousand, five 
hundred dollars in cash. 

Mr. Ford was given an equal 
amount of stock for his assets. 

At the end of two years the larg- 
est stockholders in the company 
were Alexander Malcomson, Henry 
Ford, James Couzens and John S. 
Gray. The Dodge brothers offered 
their foundry for the making of the 
car parts and each invested five 
thousand dollars in the company 
and became a director. 

Back of the selling of one block 
of stock is an interesting story. 
Both Mr. Anderson and Mr. Rack- 
ham were young attorneys and Mr. 
Malcomson was their client. He 
talked to them of the company he 
was organizing, and Mr. Anderson, 

55 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

a bachelor, at once put his money 
into it, " taking a chance," as he 
said. Mr. Rackham's case was dif- 
ferent. He lived only two doors 
from the Ford home and had a nod- 
ding acquaintance with the in- 
ventor, but his health was poor and 
he could not afford to speculate 
with his savings. So he went to a 
leading banker for advice. 

The banker took him to a win- 
dow. " Look," he said pointing to 
the street. " You see all those peo- 
ple on their bicycles riding along 
the boulevard? There is not as 
many as there was a year ago. The 
novelty is wearing off; they are los- 
ing interest. That's just the way 
it will be with automobiles. Peo- 
ple will get the fever; and later 
they will throw them away. My 
advice is not to buy the stock. You 
might make money for a year or 

56 



The First Car and the First Race 

two, but in the end you would lose 
everything you put in. The horse 
is here to stay, but the automobile 
is only a novelty — a fad/' 

Mr. Rackham was convinced. 
But a few days later he met Mr. 
Malcomson who show r ed him facts 
and figures and talked eloquently. 
Rackham was convinced again — 
but the other way. He sold some 
real estate and took the money to 
Malcomson. ' Here, take this 
money and buy the stock before I 
have time to change my mind 
again/ 5 he said. Anderson and 
Rackham drew the incorporation 
papers for the company and each 
man held his stock, selling it finally 
for twelve and one-half million 
dollars. 



57 



CHAPTER V. 

The Story of Magical Success 

On October 1, 1902, Mr. Couz- 
ens took a trial balance — in pen- 
cil — which showed that the Ford 
company after three months of 
operation was making rapid pro- 
gress. By January, 1903, the first 
commercial car was sold, and soon 
orders began to come in faster than 
they could be filled. One hundred 
and sixty-five cars were sold that 
year. A larger factory, located on 
Piquette street, was secured and the 
work went forward rapidly. In 
1905 the company began to pay 6 
percent dividends. 

In this Piquette street plant a 
young bookkeeper named Klingen- 
smith was employed at a salary of 

58 



The Story of Magical Success 

sixty-five dollars a month. Mr. 
Ford advanced him rapidly and in 
time Mr. Klingensmith became 
Vice President and Treasurer of 
the Highland Park plant. He tes- 
tified in the Tribune suit that for 
several years his salary had been 
$75,000 a year. The drafting room 
at the Piquette street plant was in 
charge of Carl Emde, a German, who 
took out his first naturalization pa- 
pers in 1902, and his second papers 
in 1911. When the company moved 
to the Highland Park plant Emde 
was put in charge of the tool room. 
This employee suddenly found 
himself in the spotlight of pub- 
licity in the last days of the Ford- 
Newberry senate campaign, as will 
be told later. 

Another employee at the Pi- 
quette street plant was a pattern 
maker named Sorenson, a Dane, 

59 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

who for years has been manager of 
the River Rouge foundry and trac- 
tor plant. 

These are some examples of the 
way in which Mr. Ford has re- 
warded the men who have worked 
faithfully for him during long 
years. It always has been a source 
of pleasure to him to share his pros- 
perity with his employees. 



Following the famous race at 
Grosse Pointe, when the Ford 999 
defeated the Winton car, there 
were other races in various parts of 
the country, but in these Mr. Ford 
had no part. Finally, however, he 
decided to rebuild 999 and make it 
the " fastest thing on wheels/' Soon 
afterward it was decided to hold a 
race against time on the frozen sur- 
face of Lake Sainte Claire in the 

60 



The Story of Magical Success 

hope of breaking the record then 
held by Vanderbilt. The race track 
was built of cinders laid on the ice 
and racing officials had come from 
many cities to serve as judges and 
time keepers. Mr. and Mrs. Ford 
and their small son, Edsel, had 
gone to the lake the evening before 
and Mr. Couzens had followed 
them on the morning of the race. 
Mr. Ford was to drive 999, for the 
event was all important to him. 

Early in the morning the engine 
was tested as a precaution, and to 
the consternation of the officials in 
the factory did not run well. They 
toiled over it like mad and finally, 
two hours before the time set for 
the race, the trouble was corrected, 
and the start made for Lake Sainte 
Claire, then considered a long way 
out in the country, although only 
ten miles from Detroit. Distances 

61 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

have shrunk since that day. The 
weather was cold and raw, with a 
high wind that added to the dis- 
comfort of the spectators. Mr. Ford 
huddled in a short thick coat of 
black curly astrakan and wished 
999 would arrive. 

Finally the car appeared down 
the road and preparations for the 
start were completed at once. Mr. 
Ford took his seat, and at the crack 
of the pistol threw on the power. 
For a moment 999 stood on its hind 
wheels, as if imitating a bucking 
bronco, then the tires gripped the 
surface of the track and the ma- 
chine was away like a shot. The 
hundred or more spectators held 
their breath as the little car tore 
along the track, then cheered wildly 
as it crossed the finish line. In a 
few minutes the timekeepers an- 
nounced that Mr. Ford had broken 

62 



The Story of Magical Success 

all records by making the mile in 
39 4/5 seconds. This feat made 
the car and its designer known the 
world over. 

That race and the previous one 
in which he defeated Alexander 
Winton were the only speed con- 
tests in which Henry Ford drove 
his own car. Shortly afterward 
Barney Oldfield drove 999 at New 
;York, Chicago, Los Angeles and 
other cities and won many suc- 
cesses, but the company's racing 
was destined to end soon in a near 
tragedy. Frank Kulick was driv- 
ing a six-cylinder car in a race at 
the Michigan State Fair when a 
rear tire exploded, flew off and 
struck him on the head. The blow 
stunned Kulick and the speeding 
car crashed through a fence. Ku- 
lick was extracted from the tangled 
wreckage and hurried to a hospital. 

63 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

As the unconscious driver was car- 
ried away Mr. Ford declared: 
" Never again will I risk the life of 
one of my men in this way/' 

Never, since that day, has the 
Ford Company entered a race. 

Kulick recovered and is still in 
the employ of the Ford company. 
Likewise all the men who prepared 
the car for the race now hold im- 
portant positions with the com- 
pany. A picture was taken of them 
when the racer was completed. 
They were Peter E. Martin, now 
general manager of the Highland 
Park plant; Charles Hartner, now 
assistant plant superintendent; 
Gus Degner, now superintendent 
of inspection at the Highland Park 
plant; Fred Rockelman, now man- 
ager of the Indianapolis branch; 
Fred Haas, now in charge of all 
the branches, and Ray Dalinger, 

64 



The Story of Magical Success 

who will be mentioned again in the 
account of the peace ship. This 
racer was the first of its type ever 
built. 

Even though it made no more 
racing cars the Ford company en- 
joyed prosperity without limit; 
likewise the automobile fever grew 
to white heat in Detroit. Fortunes 
were made quickly and lost as 
quickly, but through all the excite- 
ment Henry Ford clung to his pol- 
icy of making a good car at the low- 
est possible price. In 1906 Mr. Mal- 
comson sold his interest in the com- 
pany to Mr. Ford and turned his 
time and attention to his coal busi- 
ness. Had he held his stock until 
1919 and sold it then at the same 
price paid Mr. Couzens he would 
have received $62,500,000. Mr. 
Malcomson is a man of wealth, 
however, although he did not make 

65 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

a dollar out of the company he 
founded and which has made other 
men multi-millionaires. Writers 
frequently come to him for his 
story. " If you will let me send 
that around the world I will make 
you famous/' one journalist told 
him. "Think of what you are 
missing! This is your big oppor- 
tunity." 

Mr. Malcomson laughed. " You 
don't understand," he explained. 
" I do not want fame or newspaper 
notoriety either. Why, the most 
fun I get is listening to what peo- 
ple say in hotels and on trains. I've 
heard more versions of how the 
Ford company was started than you 
could think up in a year. Some- 
times the story is so pathetic that 
it almost brings the tears to my 
eyes; sometimes it is so funny that 
I almost laugh in the speaker's face. 

66 



The Story of Magical Success 

I wouldn't miss all this for any- 
thing." 

Mr. Couzens left the Ford com- 
pany on November 1, 1915, a 
month before the Peace Ship sailed, 
but continued as a director of the 
company until September 1, 1919, 
when he sold his interest in the 
company to Mr. Ford for thirty 
million dollars. As mayor of De- 
troit Mr. Couzens has made a name 
for himself, particularly by the 
fight he waged and won for munici- 
pal ownership of the street car 
lines. He is sponsoring a munici- 
pal hospital that in plan and pur- 
pose will be wonderful, and he has 
at every opportunity championed 
the cause of the people of his city. 

After twelve years 5 connection 
with the Ford company the Dodge 
brothers notified Mr. Ford in Feb- 
ruary, 1915, that they did not care 

67 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

to handle the factory work longer, 
their contract expiring in June. 
They later began the manufacture 
of their own cars and sold their in- 
terest in the Ford company to 
Henry Ford and his son for $25,- 
000,000 each. It is reported that 
the holdings of the Gray estate 
were sold for $27,000,000. 



A young university graduate who 
expected to be advanced rapidly in 
the Ford service, remarked one day, 
" If I had Henry Ford's money I'd 
never prowl around the Rouge fac- 
tory the way he does. All I'd know 
about the Ford industries would be 
what I read in the newspapers." 
His " prowling around " undoubt- 
edly has been one of the important 
factors in Mr. Ford's success. From 
the beginning no one in his employ 

68 



The Story of Magical Success 

worked harder than he, and no one 
works harder today. Mr. Ford be- 
lieves that wealth is a trust and he 
strives to use it accordingly, for the 
betterment of the workers in the 
Ford industries. He prefers to 
raise industrial standards rather 
than to make more millions by ex- 
ploiting his workers. His influence 
extends far beyond his own plants 
and has proved a boon to the work- 
ing classes generally. 

He holds the affection of the 
mass of his workmen as no other 
large employer can hope to. How 
he will stand by a man was demon- 
strated in the case of Emde in the 
Ford - Newberry senatorial race. 
This incident which contributed to 
Mr. Ford's defeat will be told in a 
subsequent chapter. The Ford em- 
ployes are generally " well fixed/' 
They have bank accounts, they own 

69 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

securities and many of them own 
their homes. The real test of a 
man's popularity is in his home 
neighborhood, where he is best 
known, Mr. Ford is remarkably 
popular in Detroit; the mention of 
his name brings enthusiastic ap- 
plause and his appearance at a 
large gathering has, on more than 
one occasion brought the throng to 
its feet cheering. Mere money 
could not do this. His popularity 
is founded on the fact that he is 
recognized as the friend of the com- 
mon people — and that gives him 
a tremendous personal following 
throughout the country. This pop- 
ularity has made him the target of 
criticism, but the best answer to 
the critics of Mr. Ford's methods 
is found in the fact that there never 
has been a strike in any of the Ford 
industries during the nearly twenty 

70 



The Story of Magical Success 

years of their life — not even in 
the coal fields he owns. 

Mr, Ford's activities in behalf of 
his employees are enthusiastically 
supported by John Henkel, his em- 
ployment manager at the Highland 
Park plant. Henkel is honest and 
capable, but the heart and brain of 
the Ford system is Henry Ford 
himself. As is inevitable in such 
a large organization inequalities 
sometimes creep into the system. 
Those placed in authority have not 
always been loyal to their trust. 
But Mr. Ford is always on the 
alert and wrongs are quickly 
righted once they are detected. 

When the five-dollar wage was 
put in effect at the Ford plants 
thousands of workmen were at- 
tracted to Detroit, many more than 
could be given employment. Much 
distress resulted. Mr. Ford called 

71 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

in a trusted friend and gave him 
$50,000 with the request that the 
friend investigate conditions quiet- 
ly and use the money to relieve the 
wants of the unemployed. None 
of those aided knew from whom 
the money came. Mr. Ford in- 
stinctively dreads notoriety and has 
an iron-clad rule that his name 
must not be connected with what 
he gives. 

The wonderful achievements of 
the Ford factories are known wher- 
ever manufacturing is known. In- 
dustrial experts from far and near 
have come to Detroit to study the 
Ford methods. Many of these men 
have labored in the Ford plants to 
better acquaint themselves with the 
practical workings of the system. 
Such a man was K. Mimaura, em- 
ployment manager of the Sumi- 
tomo copper works at Osaka, Ja- 

72 



The Story of Magical Success 

pan. Although he worked for the 
Ford company for some time his 
identity was not learned until he 
resigned to return to Japan where 
he is now in charge of a large foun- 
dry and smelter. He left behind 
him in Detroit many friends and a 
trail of Japanese fans which he had 
ordered made in Osaka. 

Early in the war a German baron 
went to Detroit and wanted to or- 
der five hundred Ford cars for im- 
mediate delivery. 

:c Mr. Ford is not willing to ac- 
cept war orders/ 5 he was told. 

"I understand all that/' the 
baron replied impatiently, " but 
how long will it take you to make 
the five hundred cars? " 

Quite patiently the company of- 
ficial explained again Mr. Ford's 
determination. This was beyond 
the baron's comprehension. " Don't 

73 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

jest with me," he declared. ' I 
want to place this order today. I 
am willing to pay your price. When 
can the cars be delivered? y 

' It is now noon/ 5 the official 
told him. "It would take until 4 
o'clock to make the five hundred 
cars. But Mr. Ford has issued or- 
ders that nothing will be manufac- 
tured for war purposes. That is 
his order. The only condition that 
would make him change it would 
be America's entry into the con- 
flict." When America did enter the 
war the German baron probably re- 
called what he had been told in 
Detroit. 

A French commissioner who came 
with a war order had a similar ex- 
perience. He was shown through 
the plant. " Time them," said his 
guide as they stood watching the 
finished cars rolled away by the me- 

74 



The Story of Magical Success 

chanical starter. "A finished car 
every twenty-nine seconds. Take 
your watch and time them/' The 
Frenchman did, but he got no cars. 
Throughout the country many 
plants worked day and night dur- 
ing the war turning out munitions 
and other military supplies. The 
Ford plant was unique in that no 
work was done there on Sunday. 
' My men must have their day of 
rest/' Mr. Ford ruled. "We can 
do our full part without breaking 
the fourth commandment. 3 ' And 
they did. Today one out of every 
ten of his employees is a returned 
soldier and half of these veterans 
are physically disabled. Henry 
Ford still is doing his part. 



75 



CHAPTER VI. 

The Peace Ship 

The facts about the Peace Ship 
— how the idea was presented to 
Henry Ford; the theory of what 
could be accomplished and the re- 
sults, direct and indirect, of the 
undertaking, make a story far dif- 
ferent from that believed by, per- 
haps, the majority of people. The 
true account set forth in the follow- 
ing pages was given the writer by 
persons in a position to know the 
facts, and every statement has been 
verified. Instead of criticism and 
ridicule Henry Ford deserves com- 
mendation for his endeavor. 

The name of the person who per- 
suaded Mr. Ford to undertake the 
strange mission of peace is omitted 

76 



The Peace Shzp 

here for good reasons. This leader 
withdrew from the party before the 
ship sailed and left Mr. Ford to 
endure the criticism and censure 
alone. Much as one may deplore 
the spectacular manner that marked 
the undertaking, the three hundred 
thousand dollars that it cost was 
not money wasted. As will be 
shown later the country profited by 
Mr. Ford's expenditure. 

Rebecca Shelley and Angelica 
Morgan, two American women 
writers, one a delegate to The 
Hague Peace Conference in 1915, 
and the other also an ardent peace 
advocate, brought back to this 
country the report that Europe was 
weary of the war, and that the bat- 
tling nations were all eager for 
peace. These women believed that 
if a delegation representing neutral 
countries were sent to Europe the 

77 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

way could be paved for peace nego- 
tiations. They wanted President 
Wilson to appoint Miss Jane Ad- 
dams of Chicago as America's rep- 
resentative. 

Both women tried to see the pres- 
ident and also endeavored to have 
him receive Miss McMillan, a 
prominent English woman, then in 
America and Madame Schwimmer, 
an Austrian, who claimed to possess 
documents of vital importance in 
any effort to end the war. Failing 
to reach the president, Miss Shelley 
and Miss Morgan went to Detroit 
to see Henry Ford, who, they knew, 
was close to President Wilson. 
They failed again, but they did 
meet and talk with a number of 
prominent Detroiters; also they se- 
cured the co-operation of a number 
of active club women. 

As a last resort Miss Shelley and 

78 



The Peace Ship 

Miss Morgan went to the office of 
the Detroit News to enlist the sup- 
port of that paper. To the then 
editor-in-chief, E. G. Pipp, they 
stated their case thus : " Jane Ad- 
dams is willing to go to President 
Wilson and lay before him all the 
information she secured at The 
Hague concerning the sincere de- 
sire of the European nations to end 
the war. President Wilson has re- 
fused to see her. Miss McMillan 
has proof that the Allies want 
peace. Madame Schwimmer has 
documents which show that the En- 
tente will enter into peace negotia- 
tions. These women must return 
home unless the president sees them 
soon. At the rate the war is pro- 
gressing America will soon become 
involved." 

Mr. Pipp went into his private 
office and soon was talking to Mr. 

79 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

Tumulty, the president's secretary, 
on the long distance telephone. 
" Your information must be incor- 
rect/' Mr. Tumulty told him, when 
Mr. Pipp repeated the story just 
told him. " President Wilson has 
not refused Miss Addams an inter- 
view. Perhaps if she makes an- 
other effort to see him it can be ar- 
ranged. The president can receive 
only delegations including repre- 
sentatives of both sides in the con- 
flict. They must bring with them 
authentic information." 

Mr. Pipp then got into communi- 
cation with Miss Morgan and Miss 
Shelley. Madame Schwimmer came 
to Detroit, but Miss McMillan had 
returned to England. It was sug- 
gested that Mrs. Philip Snowdon, 
wife of a member of Parliament, 
and at that time lecturing in this 
country, be placed on the peace 

80 



The Peace Ship 

committee in place of Miss Mc- 
Millan. Miss Shelley and Miss 
Morgan favored the idea of having 
many telegrams sent the president 
urging him to undertake the pre- 
liminaries of peace. They also 
wished to arrange a big peace pa- 
rade in Detroit to attract the atten- 
tion of the country. Mr. Pipp 
urged them to abandon all such 
plans. 

" There is nothing to be gained 
by spectacular efforts/' he said. 
: You wished an audience with the 
president. It can be arranged. 
Publicity is altogether inadvisable 
and cannot help your cause." 

When Madame Schwimmer 
reached Detroit she learned that 
Miss Morgan and Miss Shelley had 
exhausted their funds. She im- 
mediately sold her jewelry to meet 
the obligations incurred and took 

81 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

a small room on the top floor of 
the Tuller Hotel. The writer was 
told by a woman who knew her that 
Madame Schwimmer was not the 
charming, dazzling creature that 
report has made her. She is de- 
scribed as a woman of culture and 
education, sincerely eager to end 
the war. She was fairly good look- 
ing, pale, with dark hair and 
snappy black eyes. She seemed 
just a plain motherly person, with 
no great amount of personal mag- 
netism. 

Like every newcomer in Detroit 
Madame Schwimmer was anxious 
to meet Henry Ford. She was an 
admirer of the Ford industrial sys- 
tem and desired moreover to show 
the motor king letters and docu- 
ments from Earl Grey, the King 
of Sweden, von Bethman-Hollweg 
and others. These documents she 

82 



The Peace Ship 

carried with her always, enclosing 
them in a flat green leather bag se- 
cured to her wrist. It has been said 
that these papers were forged, but 
the charge never has been proved. 
She appealed to Mr. Pipp to secure 
for her an interview with Mr. Ford. 
" I think I can arrange for you to 
meet him, 55 Mr. Pipp told her, " but 
I shall make the appointment on 
one condition: You must promise 
not to ask him for financial aid or 
try, directly or indirectly, to secure 
money from him." 

Madame Schwimmer's snappy 
black eyes looked straight into Mr. 
Pipp's steady blue eyes as she an- 
swered : " I give you my word of 
honor that I shall not ask Mr. Ford 
for money for any project what- 
ever. I want to secure his aid in 
presenting my documents to Presi- 
dent Wilson/' Mr. Pipp then ar- 

83 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

ranged the meeting. At his sug- 
gestion Alfred Lucking, Mr. Ford's 
senior counsel and a former mem- 
ber of Congress, was present when 
Madame Schwimmer met the motor 
king in his great office at the High- 
land Park plant. She presented 
her credentials and other docu- 
ments and was questioned search- 
ingly by Mr. Lucking. No witness 
in court ever underwent a more 
gruelling cross - examination than 
did this Austrian woman that 
morning. 



In this connection it must be 
remembered that there was no 
stronger advocate of peace in the 
country than Henry Ford. He had 
been born in the years of the Civil 
War and had spent his childhood 
in the shadow of the old arsenal at 

84 



The Peace Ship 

Dearborn. His boyhood had been 
filled with stories of the horrors of 
war, and one day, years afterward, 
when driving away from his plant 
with a friend, he remarked : " There 
is the factory into which I have put 
my life. I have given it the best 
that is in me, but I would rather 
tear it down brick by brick with 
my own hands that have it used for 
making munitions of war/ 5 

The writer can state on the best 
authority that Mr. Ford did not 
agree to go to Washington with the 
peace committee. He was in 
Washington shortly after his meet- 
ing with Madame Schwimmer, and 
it was there that he was persuaded 
to go abroad with the peace dele- 
gates. It was at this time that the 
Peace Ship was suggested to him. 
Shortly afterward he telephoned 
Mrs. Ford at their home: 

85 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

" We are going to Europe/ 5 he 
told her. 

"Going where? Who is going 
to Europe?" asked his astonished 
wife. 

: You and I — We're going to 
Europe. And we are going to take 
some people with us/' 

" Indeed we are not/' was Mrs. 
Ford's emphatic reply. " Don't let 
anyone talk you into any such no- 
tion." 

It may be suspected that the 
motor king was unwilling to risk 
further discussion with his wife, for 
next day he called up Mr. Pipp 
from New York. " There is a 
rumor here that I am dead/' he told 
the newspaper man. " I don't want 
Mrs. Ford to worry. Will you 
telephone her that I am all right. 
You can get her quicker from your 
office than I can from here. Tell 

86 



The Peace Ship 

her my cold is better and that I'll 
be home soon/ 5 

' What about the interview with 
President Wilson?" Mr. Pipp 
asked. 

f There is nothing that he can 
do/ 5 came the answer in weary 
tones. " Til tell you all about it 
when I return. By the way, do you 
mind if I bring Miller back with 
me? I do not like to make the trip 
alone." Miller was the Washing- 
ton correspondent of the News, and 
Mr. Ford was particularly fond of 
him. 

The next thing Mr. Pipp and 
Mrs. Ford heard was the newspaper 
announcement that Mr. Ford had 
agreed to finance a peace expedition 
to Europe; that a considerable 
party of peace enthusiasts would 
accompany him, and that he had 
chartered a ship for the voyage. 

87 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

Mr. Ford returned to Detroit 
fired with the zeal of a crusader. 
To every advisor who urged him to 
abandon the project he replied: 
" In Washington they have experts 
studying every hill, valley, river 
and road in Europe. They have 
men studying every phase of war, 
but no one studying the possi- 
bilities of peace. If America is 
dragged into the war there will be 
a terrible loss of life among our 
young men. Thousands will be 
slaughtered like cattle and other 
thousands will die from exposure 
and disease. The reconstruction 
period through which we shall have 
to pass will be terrible. If I can 
be of any service whatever in help- 
ing end this war and keeping Amer- 
ica out of it I shall do it if it costs 
me every dollar and every friend I 
have." 

88 



The Peace Ship 

The Peace Ship sailed on De- 
cember 4, 1915. It was necessary 
to take in gold the money needed 
to defray all expenses. Mr. Ford's 
farm manager, Ray Dalinger, who 
had served him since the days of the 
Piquette street plant, had charge of 
guarding and handling the great 
bags of coin that were carried in 
the ship's hold. Hardly was the 
Statue of Liberty out of sight be- 
fore the peace delegates began to 
be less peaceful among themselves. 
In a short time the disagreements 
and friction became more marked. 
Madame Schwimmer herself be- 
came unpopular. She was temper- 
amental and wrapped herself in a 
mantle of reserve. It has since been 
said that perhaps Madame Schwim- 
mer was " a conspirator seeking to 
focus the attention of the world on 
peace at a time when her country 

89 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

and its allies held the whip hand." 
If this be true, she was sadly lack- 
ing funds for the undertaking. Her 
interviews were in full glare of the 
searching light that beats upon pub- 
licity. If she was an arch-spy, what 
could she accomplish by announc- 
ing her presence in a neutral coun- 
try where the secret service is swift, 
active and effective ? What could 
she gain by approaching a man 
whose father was an Englishman; 
whose wife was the daughter of an 
English mother, both of whom keep 
in close touch with England? If 
she were an adventuress, she was 
bound to know that it is utterly im- 
possible to reach a man of Henry 
Ford's prominence without being 
carefully scrutinized and investi- 
gated. If she were sincere in her 
motives, she has been terribly ma- 
ligned and her disappointment in 

90 



The Peace Ship 

the failure of the expedition must 
have been overwhelming. 

Henry Ford was ill when the 
party reached Christiania. A cold 
had become worse and he was in no 
condition to go farther with his al- 
ready hopeless task. He remained 
abroad long enough, however, to 
gather first-hand information of the 
European situation, especially as- 
tounding information regarding 
Russia. He learned, too, that Ger- 
many had no intention of ending 
the war without a victory that 
would subjugate the entire English- 
speaking world. He found that 
what the Allies needed most was 
a submarine detector. 

Mr. Ford returned home on New 
Year's Day, 1916. The experience 
had aged him. It had opened his 
eyes to many things he would 
rather not have known and which 

91 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

he probably never would have be- 
lieved had he not made the voyage 
in the Peace Ship. That the war 
would continue he was convinced. 
The struggle would be a terrific one 
and the day was rapidly approach- 
ing when America would be drawn 
into it. Germany knew this coun- 
try was unprepared and believed 
that we could not whip an army 
into shape in time to count in the 
conflict. 

Forthwith Mr. Ford began to do 
some planning of his own. He or- 
dered his yacht overhauled and 
made ready for instant service if 
the government should need it. His 
River Rouge plant, as has been 
said, is located at the point where 
the stream from which it takes its 
name flows into the Detroit river. 
The plant was rapidly equipped 
for the making of Eagle boats and 

92 



The Peace Ship 

submarine chasers. The situation 
is an ideal one for a naval station, 
and it was used for this purpose 
throughout the war after the entry 
of the United States. Finally, Mr. 
Ford issued orders that work be 
rushed on his three million dollar 
hospital. 

With all these preparations he 
never discussed with any one what 
he had learned abroad or the work 
he now had to do. If he read the 
bitter criticisms he gave them no 
heed. People close to him realized, 
however, that the current of his life 
had changed. He was busy day 
and night now ; the twinkle came to 
his eyes but seldom, and the iron 
gray of his hair whitened. 

A year later America entered the 
war and Henry Ford was sum- 
moned to Washington. 

' How quickly can you supply 

93 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

us with cars and munitions'? 5 he 
was asked by a congressional com- 
mittee. 

" I must have a little time," he 
parried. 

' Exactly how long will it be be- 
fore you can make your first deliv- 
ery of cars, trucks, caissons and the 
like? " came the insistent question. 

Henry Ford looked at his watch; 
it was 1 1 :30. " By 3 o'clock to- 
morrow afternoon my first delivery 
will be complete/' he replied. " I 
can telegraph to the plant and start 
work immediately. They should 
receive the order in five minutes." 

The Congressmen laughed. They 
did not know that he had spent 
many sleepless nights planning 
every detail of the work that he 
knew he would be called upon to 
do. They did not know that he had 
been awaiting the day when he 

94 



The Peace Ship 

must place all the resources of his 
great industry at the service of the 
government. The great factory — 
the largest motor plant in the world 
and the only one that hitherto had 
refused war orders — was equipped 
to the last detail so that at the sig- 
nal from its owner every depart- 
ment could take up the work of 
war. 

That is why the Ford plant 
played the wonderful part it did in 
supplying the necessities of war. 
That is why it was able to turn out 
finished materials for the armies 
faster than the ships could carry 
them across the Atlantic. What 
Henry Ford had learned on his un- 
successful peace voyage had caused 
him to prepare for the day that now 
had arrived. He knew that every 
day the struggle was prolonged 
more brave young soldiers would 

95 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

fall and he employed all his vast 
resources to hasten the coming of 
peace by a speedy victory. 

Henry Ford gave all his war 
profits — twenty-nine millions — 
to the government, with no ham- 
pering conditions. This vast 
amount was turned back to the 
Treasury to be used as the govern- 
ment saw fit. This was the act of 
a pacifist. If all the war advocates 
had done the same the country's 
war debts would not be so stagger- 
ing to-day and there would have 
been less talk of war profiteers. 



96 



CHAPTER VII. 

The Ford-Newberry Senatorial 
Campaign 

If the Peace Ship injured the 
prestige of Henry Ford the effect 
was not apparent in his native state 
in 1916, for in that year the delega- 
tion sent to the Republican Na- 
tional Convention at Chicago was 
instructed to give him its compli- 
menary " favorite son r [ vote. Mr. 
Ford has none of the characteristics 
of a statesman, or even politician, 
and does not yearn for public office, 
but he has more men working for 
him than there are people living in 
Nevada and Wyoming; he has 
been marvelously successful in his 
conduct of immense business un- 
dertakings, and it would seem that 

97 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

he must be capable of filling a 
place in the Senate of the United 
States — not as a statesman or 
politician, not as an orator or social 
leader, but as a hard-working, suc- 
cessful man who always has had 
the interests of many people at 
heart. 

In Michigan, where he is best 
known and most esteemed, many 
citizens were eager for him to be 
their senator, as William Alden 
Smith had announced that he 
would not be a candidate to suc- 
ceed himself. Mr. Ford was urged 
to make the race on the Republican 
ticket and although the nomination 
would have been equivalent to elec- 
tion he refused, partly because he 
did not want the office and partly 
because he did not want to take the 
time away from his business. Then 
the Democrats appealed to him 

98 



The Ford-Newberry Campaign 

to become their standard bearer. 
"Michigan/' they told him, "is 
overwhelmingly Republican. You 
are the only man who can make the 
race as a Democrat with any hope 
of success. At this critical period 
the President needs the support in 
Washington of every friend he 
has." 

About this time the President 
sent for Mr. Ford to come to Wash- 
ington for a conference. They dis- 
cussed the submarine detector on 
which Mr. Ford himself had been 
working. From that the conversation 
turned to the coming senatorial cam- 
paign. Partisanship did not enter 
into the conversation, but the Presi- 
dent said that he needed Mr. Ford 
in the Senate and gave as his reason 
that he " was fair-minded and had 
no party prejudices/' and he added : 
' No one knows as I do the work 

99 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

that you and your son are doing to 
help win the war. No one knows 
better than I know the heartache 
and the sacrifice that you are put- 
ting into it. But I hope you will 
put aside your personal feelings, 
make this additional sacrifice and 
be a candidate/' 

Mr. Ford was touched by the 
appeal, but his reply was charac- 
teristic of the man. " I cannot leave 
Detroit/' he told the President. 
" I cannot take my eyes off the 
plant. No matter how many offi- 
cials I may have, I must be there 
myself. I am around my factory all 
day and every day; I am there 
very often at night. I've gotten 
out of bed many a time to drop in 
on the night shift and see how 
things were moving. I've worked 
right along with the men on the 
submarine detector and we have 

100 



The Ford-Newberry Campaign 

just completed it. I cannot take 
time to make the race. Moreover, 
I have so much to do at Detroit 
that I could not spend enough time 
in Washington if I were Senator. 
Besides, I can't make speeches and 
I have not the patience to sit 
around and listen to folks who like 
to talk." 

Mr. Wilson put his hand on Mr. 
Ford's shoulder. " The country 
needs you/' he said. ' We are being 
swamped by waste; we are being 
hampered by various combinations. 
I need your aid in this time of 
stress. I know your obligations and 
I realize that I am asking more 
than you feel you can give; but I 
need you — need you more than 
you know." 

And when Henry Ford returned 
to Detroit the same argument was 
advanced from every side: "The 

101 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

President needs you. You are the 
only man in Michigan that can be 
elected on the Democratic ticket. 55 
Meanwhile the Republicans, 
alarmed by the general talk of Mr. 
Ford as the Democratic candidate, 
cast about for the strongest man 
they could find to oppose him. 
They selected Commander Truman 
H. Newberry, prevailed upon him 
to enter the primaries and he was 
selected as the Republican nomi- 
nee. Mr. Newberry was a man 
of great wealth — several times 
a millionaire — and was con- 
nected with the most influential 
families of the state. His home was 
in the fashionable suburb of Grosse 
Pointe, ten miles from Detroit. In 
1905 he had been appointed Assist- 
ant Secretary of the Navy and 
when American entered the world 
war President Wilson made him 

102 



The Ford-Newberry Campaign 

a Lieutenant Commander in the 
navy, the highest rank ever con- 
ferred upon a civilian. Later he 
became aide to Rear Admiral N. E. 
Usher, commandant of the third 
naval district, which includes New 
York and Brooklyn. At that time 
no one had any idea of the bitter- 
ness and legal prosecutions that 
would follow the campaign; no one 
had any idea that Commander 
Newberry, one of Michigan's lead- 
ing citizens, would be convicted 
and sentenced by a Republican 
jury and judge for violation of the 
federal election law, and that many 
other party leaders would be in- 
volved with him. If either Mr. 
Ford or Commander Newberry had 
known what was in store it is more 
than likely that neither would have 
taken part in the campaign, even if 
they had foreseen that after the 

103 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

long and bitter fight Mr. Newberry 
would be cleared in the United 
States Supreme Court and the law 
under which he was prosecuted de- 
clared unconstitutional. 

Finally Mr. Ford agreed to run. 
Soon the battle was on. His ad- 
mirers took off their coats, rolled 
up their sleeves and went to work. 
Party lines were swept aside and 
Detroit never has known such a 
campaign as that which followed. 
Soon the excitement swept over 
the entire state — both men were 
known in every township and vil- 
lage and both were regarded as the 
strongest their respective parties 
could have selected. As time passed 
the campaign grew hotter and hot- 
ter. Straw votes were taken every- 
where and it was confidently pre- 
dicted that Henry Ford would be 
elected by an overwhelming ma- 

104 



The Ford-Newberry Campaign 

jority, although he had almost no 
newspaper support — Michigan 
having few Democratic papers. 

But the race was not over. Two 
developments were to upset the 
hopes of Mr. Ford's followers. One 
was the letter written by President 
Wilson asking for a Democratic 
congress. This did his candidacy 
much harm. The other was the 
statement attributed to Charles 
Evans Hughes, which appeared in 
the newspapers on November 3, 
1918, just two days before the elec- 
tion. The statement itself hurt Mr. 
Ford's chances, and Mr. Ford's sub- 
sequent action did his cause still 
more harm. It should be kept in 
mind that the Ford Motor company 
had done and still was doing a 
vast amount of war work. Armis- 
tice rumors were already being 
heard, but the necessity of guard- 

105 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

ing the country's war secrets was as 
great as ever. 

In its issue of Sunday morning, 
November 3, the Detroit Free Press 
carried a full-page advertisement, 
which also appeared in other news- 
papers, parts of which are given be- 
low. The " ad " was published by 
the Republican State Central Com- 
mittee, over the signature of John 
D. Mangum, chairman. At the top 
in heavy type, at least two inches 
high, were the words: 

"HENRY FORD AND HIS 
HUNS. 5 ' 

Below this was the following 
statement : 

•"Carl Emde, a German 
alien and a German sympa- 
thizer, is boss of the drafting 
work on the Liberty motor at 
the Ford plant. Henry Ford 

106 



The Ford-Newberry Campaign 

knows he is a German alien 
and a German sympathizer, 
but he refuses to take him off 
this work. 

c This is not hearsay. It is 
absolute fact, vouched for by 
Charles Evans Hughes, whom 
President Wilson appointed to 
find out why the production of 
American aeroplanes has been 
so much delayed, when the 
American soldiers in France 
need them so much. President 
Wilson's confidence in Mr. 
Hughes is emphasized by the 
fact that Mr. Hughes is a for- 
mer justice of the Supreme 
Court of the United States. 
His reputation and respect for 
the truth and for fairness in 
judgment have never been 
questioned, even by his bitter- 
est adversaries. Concerning 

107 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

Emde's job, Mr. Hughes says 
in his report to the President: 

" ' IT IS POSSIBLE FOR 
ONE IN THAT DEPART- 
MENT TO BRING ABOUT 
DELAYS THE CAUSES 
FOR WHICH, IN VIEW 
OF THE MULTIPLIC- 
ITY OF DRAWINGS, IT 
WOULD BE HARD TO 
TRACE.' " 

There are three more paragraphs 
attacking Mr. Ford on this score, 
which I shall omit — not wishing 
to weary the reader. The advertise- 
ment continued: 

" Sacrifice? What about the 
sacrifice of American soldiers 
if this German pet of Henry 
Ford's sees fit to delay the 

108 






*2h 

3 






^3 S* 



=1 £' 



^ ~- 



02 



2 ^ 



<* 

o 







The Ford-Newberry Campaign 

production of Liberty motors 
and the making of aeroplanes, 
as he is in a position to do"? 
How many American lives 
have already been sacrificed in 
aeroplanes tampered with by 
German agents? If Henry 
Ford puts so much faith in the 
German Emde after all he 
knows about him, is there any 
reason why he should not put 
the same faith in the German 
Hohenzollern? Since Henry 
Ford is so fond of this German 
pet of his, is there no place in 
his large establishment where 
he can give Emde work and 
keep him out of the way of 
temptation to serve his father- 
land, as many other Germans 
have already served in this 
country? As Mr. Hughes savs : 
" ' THERE HAS BEEN A 

109 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

LAXITY AT THE FORD 
PLANT WITH RESPECT 
TO THOSE OF GERMAN 
SYMPATHIES WHICH IS 
NOT AT ALL COMPATI- 
BLE WITH THE INTER- 
ESTS OF THE GOVERN- 
MENT/ " 

The advertisement went on at 
much length along these lines, em- 
phasizing various paragraphs with 
heavy type. Then it said: 

c It is now plain to every 
voter in Michigan that Henry 
Ford is no more wary of Hun 
, agents than he was when he 
followed Rosika Schwimmer 
to Europe on the peace ship 
three years ago. He is as inno- 
cent as ever. 

" If Carl Emde wishes to 

110 



The Ford-Newberry Campaign 

make plans and photographs 
of the Ford plant or the Lib- 
erty motor for use by the ene- 
mies of the United States, 
Henry Ford is willing to give 
him a chance to do it, just as 
he fell for Madame Schwim- 
mer's pro-German peace plans. 

' Henry Ford loves Huns 
too much to be trusted with a 
seat in the Senate of the 
United States and help make 
peace with them. Commander 
Newberry knows them for 
what they are and is helping 
to fight them at every stage of 
the game. 

" There can be but one 
choice for wide-awake Ameri- 
cans in this election/' 

The Ford campaign managers 
were taken completely by surprise. 

Ill 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

The Liberty motor work, the par- 
ticular department attacked, was 
the best piece of work that Henry 
Ford had accomplished, and the 
Republican letter was a staggering 
blow. The only hope of offsetting 
the damage done lay in an imme- 
diate reply through the Monday 
papers so that as many as possible 
of the voters, especially in the rural 
districts, could be reached before 
they went to the polls Tuesday 
morning. Mr. Pipp, who had re- 
signed as editor-in-chief of the 
Detroit News and who had been 
government inspector in seven De- 
troit factories engaged in war work, 
was in charge of all the Ford cam- 
paign statements given to the press. 
He began work at once on an 
answer to the Hughes statement. 
It was a difficult undertaking; for, 
while he knew just what the Ford 

112 



The Ford-Newberry Campaign 

plant had accomplished in the 
making of war materials, it was 
hard to decide how much could be 
revealed at that time. Mr. Pipp 
knew r what Emde had done; he 
knew that the Liberty motors could 
not have been completed in such 
numbers without his aid. A few 
words about these famous motors 
will make this clear. Up to that 
time the approved method was to 
machine the cylinders out of solid 
forgings, a method that consumed 
a vast amount of time and required 
a tremendous amount of equipment 
and labor. To eliminate delay the 
Ford company decided to use steel 
tubing cut to length and upset. 
The plan was to have one end of 
the tube heated and formed to a 
cone shape, leaving a small open- 
ing at the end of the cone. A sec- 
ond operation flattened the cone so 

113 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

as to weld the hole shut, making a 
seamless joint. Unfortunately this 
method was found impractical; the 
hole was closed, but seams and 
cracks appeared where the edges 
came together. 

It was essential to produce a 
seamless wall in the cylinder and 
four men, Emde, Findlater, Hart- 
ner and Martin, set to work to find 
a method of doing it. This they did 
by placing the point of the cone to 
one side, so that the defect was 
located on the spot where a two- 
inch hole had to be drilled for the 
valve seat. Production was started 
under this method, but another de- 
lay was experienced because of the 
slow method of cutting the tubes. 
Emde set to work again and de- 
signed and built a shear to be used 
instead of a steel saw. The re- 
sult was that 4,000 cylinders a day 

114 



The Ford-Newberry Campaign 

were produced. In other plants the 
valve housings, intake and exhaust 
were acetylene welded to the top 
of the cylinder. Emde with a com- 
panion, Riemenschneider, worked 
out a method of butt welding which 
made a superior weld and saved 
much time. This method was sub- 
sequently adopted by other makers 
of the Liberty motor. In all 5 1 1 ,854 
cylinders were made by the Ford 
company. Approximately 125,000 
were used at the Ford plant and 
the remainder delivered to the gov- 
ernment for other Liberty engine 
makers. 

The company also turned out 
700,000 bearings for the Liberty 
motor, and these were so superior 
that the government had placed or- 
ders with the company for all the 
Liberty motor bearings made in 
this country. Up to the day of the 

115 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

publication of the Hughes state- 
ment 400,000 of these bearings had 
been delivered. 

Another important war-time 
achievement of the Ford company 
was in the making of caisson axles. 
The problem was to get away from 
the solid axle forgings, as these re- 
quired the drilling of a three and 
one-half inch hole for seventy-six 
inches through solid metal. The 
Ford company made the axles from 
steel tubing at one-sixth the cost. 
And every axle passed the govern- 
ment test. 

But Mr. Pipp knew much more 
about the achievements of the Ford 
company. It had delivered 2,000,- 
000 steel helmets, 8,000 caissons, 
more than 8,000 trucks and 2 £,000 
Ford cars and 6,000 ambulances, 
several hundred of which were 
given free. Nor was that all. Much 

116 



The Ford-Newberry Campaign 

experimental work had been done 
on three-ton tanks and a smaller 
two-man tank. More than a million 
dollars' worth of work had been 
done in producing special devices 
for the British navy, and the Ford 
chemical department had co-oper- 
ated in the making of gas masks. 
Motion picture reels for the Lib- 
erty Loan, the Red Cross and other 
patriotic uses were made by the 
company and supplied to the gov- 
ernment in sufficient quantities to 
be used all over the country. Other 
motion pictures were sent to the 
American forces on every fighting 
front. 

How much of. this information 
he would be warranted in publish- 
ing as an answer to the Hughes 
criticisms was the problem that 
confronted Mr. Pipp. However, 
time pressed and he set to work, 

117 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

and a statement was completed on 
Monday morning. Just as he fin- 
ished his labors Mr. Ford, who was 
in the room, started to the tele- 
phone. " I want to get Emde," he 
explained. " I want to tell him not 
to worry/' Emde, it is true, was 
born in Germany, but he had been 
a naturalized citizen of the United 
States for many years. 

" Let me read this statement to 
you first/' urged Mr. Pipp. " Then 
I can give it to the papers. Any 
delay in getting it published may 
mean your defeat/' 

" If a candidate has to go 
through this sort of thing to get 
into the Senate I don't want to go 
there," said Mr. Ford. " Wait until 
I talk to Emde." After consider- 
able delay he got Emde on the 
wire. " Don't worry, Emde," said 
Henry Ford. "I have seen the 

118 



The Ford-Newberry Campaign 

papers. I know you ; I have watched 
you work and I know you are 
honest and faithful. If they try to 
hang you they will have to hang 
me first. I am going to see that you 
get a square deal. 5 ' 

When Mr. Ford had finished his 
conversation with Emde, Mr. Pipp 
induced him to read the statement. 
Mr. Ford approved it and Mr. Pipp 
sent it to the newspapers. It was 
too late; the Monday noon papers 
had gone to press and it was these 
editions that the Ford managers 
had relied upon to undo the harm 
wrought by the Hughes statement, 
for they circulated throughout the 
state. The statement did get into 
the night editions, but these have 
little country circulation, and the 
papers that reached the rural dis- 
tricts on election morning carried 
the Ford statement tucked away 

119 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

where comparatively few saw it. 
It is probable that many who read 
the Hughes statement never saw 
the Ford answer. 
This was as follows: 

" Our policy is to make men, 
not to break them. In times of 
panic great injury and injus- 
tice are often done to innocent 
persons, and we try to keep our 
heads. 

" We would not allow in- 
justice to be done to an old, 
trusted and valued employee, 
even though he was born in 
Germany. The results speak 
for themselves. Mr. Emde, re- 
ferred to as the special exam- 
ple in the Hughes report, has 
been with us a little over 
twelve years, and he is a most 
able and excellent engineer 

120 



The Ford-Newberry Campaign 

and has always given perfect 
satisfaction. Not one word 
could be found by Mr. Hughes 
or anyone else with regard to 
Mr. Emde's actual work. We 
in the plant know that he gave 
valuable assistance and many 
suggestions with regard to the 
development of the Liberty 
motor cylinders, which are be- 
ing furnished to all the manu- 
facturers, with a saving of 
three hundred and forty-five 
thousand dollars a month to 
the government over former 
orders. 

"From the beginning of the 
war we have taken the greatest 
precaution. * * * We have 
had no interference with our 
work that could be in any way 
traced to enemy aliens. * * * 
The United States Marshal 

121 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

can speak for himself as to our 
organization and work with 
regard to that. Mr. Ford was 
a witness before Mr. Hughes, 
but he was not asked a single 
question with reference to 
enemy aliens, Mr. Emde or 
anyone else." 

Under the Ford reply was 
printed a statement from the 
United States Marshal: 

" We have had less trouble 
with enemy aliens in the Ford 
plant than in any other large 
plant. If there is any blame 
with regard to the Ford plant, 
it should be on the marshal's 
office and not on the Ford 
people. The Ford company 
did not employ a single Ger- 
man alien without a permit of 
the marshal's office." 

122 



The Ford-Newberry Campaign 

Friends who dropped in to see 
Mr. Ford that day still expressed 
confidence that he would be elected, 
but as he and Mr. Pipp left the 
campaign headquarters together 
Mr. Ford said to his compaion, 
"I noticed that you did not join 
with the others when they were 
insisting that I would win to- 
morrow/' 

"No," replied Mr. Pipp. "I 
couldn't agree with them. I don't 
think you have plain sailing. I 
think you have a fair fighting 
chance, but only a fair one." 

" But that wasn't what you said 
Saturday." 

"No; if the election had been 
held Saturday you would have won. 
But to-day is Monday and it's a 
different story." 

" Do you mean that you think 
the Wilson letter — " 

123 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

" In my estimation/' interrupted 
Mr. Pipp, " the Wilson letter cost 
you ten thousand votes. You could 
spare that many. There were peo- 
ple in Michigan who had forgotten 
all about party lines; they only re- 
membered that you were a candi- 
date and they wanted to pay you 
the highest honor they could. The 
Wilson letter jerked them up. It 
reminded them that they were Re- 
publicans and that you are running 
as a Democrat. I would wager that 
letter cost you their votes. You 
could spare ten thousand votes, but 
you can't spare many more." 

" Then you think the Hughes 
statement — " 

" The Hughes statement will 
work more havoc than anything 
else could have done. People will 
not have time to learn the truth. 
If I could have got a reply out in 

124 



The Ford-Newberry Campaign 

time for it to reach every voting 
precinct it would have helped some. 
Up-state and in the rural districts 
they won't see to-morrow's papers, 
but you can be perfectly sure that 
they'll get word of the Hughes 
report. If they don't see it them- 
selves some one will pass it along. 
The gossip that you're keeping a 
German working in your cylinder 
department will reach them. Com- 
ing from a man of Mr. Hughes' 
prominence, it will carry weight. 
I think I know politics and I think 
I know that last-minute rumors 
often turn the tide. In my opinion 
you have a fair fighting chance. 
You may pull through by a narrow 
margin. You probably will lose by 
between five and ten thousand 
votes." 

The first election reports gave 
the state to Commander Newberry 

125 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

by 7,567 votes. The official re- 
count, some eighteen months later, 
changed the figures somewhat, but 
not the result. Mr. Pipp had been 
right. 

The results of that contest were 
far reaching. If Henry Ford had 
won there would have been an 
equal number of Republicans and 
Democrats in the Senate and the 
Vice-President, a Democrat, would 
have cast the deciding vote where 
there was a tie. Moreover, the Re- 
publicans would not have had the 
chairmanships of all the commit- 
tees. Finally, but for the Repub- 
lican majority of two in the Senate 
the League of Nations might have 
been endorsed. 

The- many good Americans who 
are opposed to the League feel that 
it was fortunate for the country 
that Commander Newberry was 

126 



The Ford-Newberry Campaign 

elected. Many others, firm be- 
lievers in the League, regard the 
outcome of the Michigan campaign 
as a defeat, not alone for Henry 
Ford but for the hope of permanent 
peace. Certainly the whole nation, 
perhaps the whole civilized world, 
was involved in that contest. It 
was not until a short time ago, on 
May 2, 1921, that the case was 
finally disposed of by the decision 
of the United States Supreme Court 
at Washington, which set aside the 
conviction of Commander New- 
berry in the Michigan District Fed- 
eral Court and declared unconsti- 
tutional the Corrupt Practices act 
under which he had been indicted. 
There are those who say that Mr. 
Hughes never made the statement 
attributed to him, and that he 
would not have stooped to such 
campaign methods had he been 

127 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

aware of the Republican commit- 
tee's plan. " The statement was 
held back until the last minute so 
that Mr. Hughes would not have 
an opportunity to deny it," they 
argue. 

His defeat brought to Henry 
Ford, no doubt, a feeling of relief. 
He had made the best fight any 
candidate could make. He was sur- 
prised and hurt by the eleventh- 
hour methods of the Republican 
organization. For himself his con- 
science was clear; he had fought a 
clean fight and had not stooped to 
underhand methods. Long before 
the votes were recounted and the 
official election figures filed he had 
received several citations from the 
United States War Department, 
which meant much more to him 
than a seat in the United States 
Senate. The citation which gave 

128 



The Ford-Newberry Campaign 

him the most pleasure is printed 
herewith : 

" To Ford Motor Company, 

Detroit, Michigan: 

" In accordance with the 
recommendation of the Direc- 
tor of Air Service a certificate 
of merit has been sent to you 
under separate cover. 

' The citation by the Direc- 
tor of Air Service is as follows : 

" THIS COMPANY PRO- 
DUCED 3,950 COMPLETE 
LIBERTY- 12 MOTORS OF 
UNUSUALLY GOOD 
QUALITY. THEY ALSO 
PRODUCED ALL CYLIN- 
DER FORGINGS USED 
BY ALL PLANTS IN THE 
MANUFACTURE OF LIB- 
ERTY MOTORS, AND 
THEY INVENTED AND 

129 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

DEVELOPED SPECIAL 
MACHINERY AND PRO- 
CESSES FOR THIS PUR- 
POSE. THIS PLANT WAS 
100 PER CENT ON WAR 
WORK. 

" The Chief of Ordnance 
also made similar recommen- 
dation and citation: 

" IT IS VERY GRATIFY- 
ING TO ME TO BE EN- 
ABLED TO TRANSMIT 
THIS VISIBLE RECOG- 
NITION OF PATRIOTIC 
WAR SERVICE. 

GEO. W. BURR, 
Major General, 
Assistant Chief-of-StafF ." 

This proved that Henry Ford, in 
his own field, had done all that any 
living man could do for his coun- 
try. Without doubt he had been 

130 



The Ford-Newberry Campaign 

the medium of saving the lives of 
many soldiers. 

The strangest thing about this 
Senate race was that Mr. Ford was 
not a Democrat. He was and is a 
Republican. He made the race for 
Senator because he believed in the 
principles for which President Wil- 
son was standing. With the ex- 
ception of that one campaign, and 
the time when he voted for the re- 
election of Woodrow Wilson, he 
has always voted the Republican 
ticket. Yet he was the storm cen- 
ter of one of the bitterest political 
battles that ever has been waged. 



131 



CHAPTER VIII. 

The Chicago Tribune Libel Suit 

Shortly after the time of the 
Ford-Newberry campaign an east- 
ern writer came to Detroit to se- 
cure material for a book dealing 
with Henry Ford and his achieve- 
ments. He failed to secure the 
" copy " he wanted and for that or 
some other reason gave out a story 
dealing with Mr. Ford and the 
American flag that had no founda- 
tion in fact. The story was widely 
circulated among newspapers 
throughout the country and was, 
also, the subject of much editorial 
comment. It should be said that 
many newspapers printed the orig- 
inal telegram from Detroit in good 
faith, merely as a matter of news. 

132 



The Chicago Tribune Libel Suit 

and 'with no thought at the time 
that the article was untrue. 

The editorial comment that the 
' fake" story provoked was, how- 
ever, extremely severe in many in- 
stances and especially in some of 
the papers which had opposed Mr. 
Ford's senatorial candidacy. Those 
familiar with Mr. Ford, his work 
and his aims, knew, of course, 
that he was not an anarchist and 
had no sympathy with anarchists, 
yet sharp-penned editorial writers 
made the charge against him. Mr. 
Ford waited patiently, but the at- 
tacks continued. Finally, his pa- 
tience exhausted, he placed the 
matter in the hands of his attor- 
neys, who sent letters to the of- 
fending papers, but no retractions 
were printed. 

At length Mr. Ford and his ad- 
visors decided that in defense of 

133 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

i 

his good name he must act. The 
leading paper among the group that 
had attacked him most bitterly was 
selected and suit for libel was 
started against it in the Circuit 
Court for Wayne County at Detroit. 
This paper was the Chicago Trib- 
une. It had challenged his pa- 
triotism, had termed him an igno- 
rant idealist and had linked his 
name with the names of noted an- 
archist leaders whom Mr. Ford did 
not know and with whom he never 
had had any connection whatever. 
A more absurd charge probably 
never was brought against a well 
known man than the allegation that 
Mr. Ford was an anarchist. At his 
great plants in Detroit an Ameri- 
canization school had been main- 
tained for five years, one of the 
primary purposes of which was to 
instill respect for American prin- 

134 



The Chicago Tribune Libel Suit 

ciples in the minds of the foreign- 
born employees of the Ford com- 
pany. This school had prepared 
thousands of immigrants for the 
duties of citizenship. Mr. Ford, 
himself, had done great things for 
his country in the critical days of 
the war and the beneficial results of 
his example and influence were far- 
reaching. He was a member of the 
Episcopal church, attended services 
regularly and was by instinct as 
well as by training a champion of 
law and order, of patriotism and 
truth. He knew little and cared 
less about history, although he 
played a part in its making, and 
concerned himself with what could 
be done today for the good of his 
fellow men, rather than with what 
had transpired in past ages. He 
enjoys books on philosophy and 
science and is a close reader of Tol- 

135 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

stoy, Darwin, Maeterlinck and 
Emerson. A volume of Emerson 
is always to be found beside a 
couch in his library where, after 
dinner, he frequently spends much 
time reading before a huge fire- 
place. 

In bringing suit against the Chi- 
cago Tribune Mr. Ford's position 
was simply this: He disliked the 
idea of protracted litigation and all 
the attendant publicity, but he was 
no coward, and once he had de- 
cided that he must act, act he did 
and vigorously. He reasoned that 
in order to secure adequate satis- 
faction from the paper that had 
libeled him he must demand a sum 
that would make a lasting impres- 
sion on the press of the country, 
hence the million dollars asked in 
the bill filed by his attorneys. He 
believed that his suit would have a 

136 



The Chicago Tribune Libel Suit 

salutary effect upon the press in 
general and serve as a warning that 
" free speech " does not shield the 
slanderer. He felt too that he was 
championing the cause of other 
men similarly wronged, but not so 
well equipped financially for a long 
and expensive struggle in the 
courts. He was not fighting the 
newspapers; he was fighting false- 
hood. 

Elaborate preparations for the 
suit were made on both sides. Al- 
fred Lucking, former member of 
Congress, and senior counsel for 
Mr. Ford, was assisted in the pres- 
entation of the case by Judge Al- 
fred Murphy, who resigned from 
the Wayne County bench to enter 
the case. The case came to trial 
in the summer of 1919 at Mt. Clem- 
ens, where it was sent on a change 
of venue from Detroit. Among the 

137 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

attorneys for the Tribune was El- 
liott G. Stevenson, who had been 
counsel for the Dodge brothers in 
their suit against Mr. Ford a few 
years before. Mr. Stevenson is an 
expert in cross examination, adept 
in the ridiculing of a witness, catch- 
ing him off his guard and discon- 
certing him with sudden and unex- 
pected questions. Report reached 
Mr. Ford and his lawyers that Mr. 
Stevenson had boasted that he 
would force Mr. Ford to read aloud 
in court long documents and ex- 
tracts from books with which the 
inventor was unfamiliar. Mr. Ford 
was determined to do nothing of 
the kind. Upon the day when he 
was on the witness stand he care- 
fully neglected to take his glasses 
to court, and whenever documents 
were presented to him to read he 
refused to do so. It was following 

138 



The Chicago Tribune Libel Suit 

one such refusal that Mr. Steven- 
son, with profuse apologies, bland- 
ly said to the witness : 

' Mr. Ford, I dislike to ask you 
this question, but I have heard that 
you cannot read or write. Is it 
true?" 

Counsel for Mr. Ford were on 
their feet instantly with vigorous 
objections to the question and the 
argument was sharp and bitter. To 
say that a boy who had grown up 
on a Michigan farm under home 
conditions such as had marked the 
childhood of Henry Ford, was illit- 
erate was, of course, absurd. Mr. 
Ford's friends believed that the 
sole purpose of the question was to 
supply a basis for a sensational 
newspaper story that would be 
widely circulated and thus further 
wound the inventor. 

It was mid-summer. The court 

139 






The Truth About Henry Ford 

room was stifling; an occasional 
breath of air wandered in through 
the open windows, but was a ques- 
tionable relief, for it was laden 
with the sulphur fumes of the 
nearby Mt. Clemens baths. A small 
army of newspaper correspondents 
was entrenched at long tables sur- 
rounding the lawyers, jury and wit- 
nesses. Telegraph boys sauntered 
in and hurried out bearing " copy r ' 
for papers far and near. The real- 
ization of all this publicity was dis- 
tressing to Mr. Ford as he sat in the 
witness box. Mr. Stevenson's voice 
is throaty and difficult to under- 
stand and frequently Mr. Ford 
could not catch the question put to 
him. This was another strain on 
the weary witness. 

On the day on which he was to 
take the stand Mr. Ford wore 
to court an old and comfortable 

140 



The Chicago Tribune Libel Suit 

pair of shoes. Now any witness 
should be on the alert during cross 
examination; he should watch the 
opposing attorney much as one 
fencer watches another, prepared 
for any sudden thrust. That day, 
as the questioning droned on, Mr. 
Ford let his attention wander. Ab- 
sent-mindedly he drew from his 
pocket an old knife, opened it and 
began idly to trim a bit of leather 
from the edge of the sole of his 
shoe. For the moment he was off 
his guard. 

It was just the moment a clever 
lawyer would make the most of. 
While I cannot quote from the 
transcript of the trial, the question 
which Mr. Stevenson suddenly shot 
at Mr. Ford was, as I remember it: 

" Tell the jury who Benedict 
Arnold was." 

Mr. Ford paused in the whittling 

141 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

of his shoe sole and looked at the 
lawyer, a pained expression on his 
face. "Arnold ? — Why, Arnold 
was a writer/ 5 he replied. 

At once trained pencils sped over 
the paper of the newspaper men 
and the tense silence in the court 
room was broken by the clatter of 
telegraph boys as they sped away 
with more " copy." In no time at 
all newspapers all over the country 
were proclaiming that ' Henry 
Ford says Benedict Arnold was a 
writer." 

" If only you had not said Bene- 
dict Arnold was a writer," groaned 
a close friend who joined Mr. Ford 
as soon as court adjourned. Henry 
Ford sighed. " I thought Steven- 
son wanted to know about Arnold 
who used to write for us," he re- 
plied. " Don't you remember him*? 
He left the office one day saying he 
142 



The Chicago Tribune Libel Suit 

was ill, and that night died of heart 
disease. Stevenson surely realized 
that I did not catch his question. 
He had been asking me about 
Delavigne and the other men 
who wrote for me. He had asked 
me several times about Brownell, 
and I thought he was nagging me 
about our publicity and advertising 
departments. 5 ' 

Such was the simple explanation 
of the Benedict Arnold reply. 

" Never mind/' his friend con- 
soled him. " What does it matter? 
It was just a trick to bring out that 
you seldom think of history. You 
are too busy with present day af- 
fairs. An attorney is hard up when 
he has to drag a Revolutionary 
War traitor into a twentieth cen- 
tury case." 

The Ford lawyers had kept the 
testimonv of Clinton C. DeWitt, 

143 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

head of the Americanization school 
at the Ford plant, till the last to 
give their case an effective climax. 
Mr. DeWitt presented the lessons 
which he had been teaching the 
foreign-born workers for several 
years, lessons which taught them to 
become good Americans, taught al- 
legiance to the flag, interpreted the 
constitution and pictured the an- 
archist in his true colors as a peril 
to government and people alike. 
Mr. DeWitt testified further that he 
had arranged the lessons after re- 
ceiving direct instructions from Mr. 
Ford, who frequently inspected 
them in outline and who had, dur- 
ing the last five years, kept in close 
touch with and frequentlv had at- 
tended the classes. 

At last the case went to the jury, 
which promptly returned a verdict 
against the Tribune. The clerk of 

144 



The Chicago Tribune Libel Suit 

the court read the verdict as fol- 
lows : 

"You do say upon your oath that 
the said defendants, the Tribune 
company, is guilty in manner and 
form as the said plaintiff hath in 
his declaration in this cause com- 
plained, and you assess the damages 
of the said plaintiff on occasion of 
the premises over and above costs 
and charges by him about his suit in 
this behalf expended, at the sum of 
6 cents' damages/' 

The jury acknowledged the ver- 
dict as correct and hurried from the 
court room. 

Mr. Ford's main purpose in bring- 
ing the suit was to prove false the 
accusation of the Tribune that he 
was an anarchist. The newspaper 
did not appeal the case. 

Few similar suits have been more 
widely read or discussed than this. 

145 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

It made " good reading/ 5 but as re- 
ported in many papers the proceed- 
ings gave an utterly false picture 
of the complainant. Many of those 
who aimed much ridicule at Mr. 
Ford could have done no better on 
the witness stand. As some one 
later observed: "After all, the 
worst that one of the most power- 
ful papers in the country could say 
against Henry Ford injured him 
only to the extent of six cents." 



146 



CHAPTER IX. 

Henry Ford's Interesting Person- 
ality 

The Ford company plant attracts 
thousands of visitors, foreign gov- 
ernment officials and other distin- 
guished travelers as well as plain 
Americans. Two hundred thousand 
persons have been conducted 
through the plant in a year, and 
in one month there were forty-eight 
thousand visitors. Naturally they 
all want to see and talk to Mr. 
Ford himself; naturally, too, he can 
receive only a small percentage of 
them if he is to have any time for 
his own affairs. One day his call- 
ers included a European queen, the 
Rockefeller of China, an ex-presi- 
dent of the United States, several 

147 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

senators, two university presidents, 
a committee of educators and a 
California woman, seventy years of 
age, who had crossed the country in 
her Ford roadster. 

A staff of secretaries is kept busy 
opening Mr. Ford's mail. Ten 
thousand letters were received each 
day for a considerable time. If he 
were to comply with half the re- 
quests he receives for help he would 
be compelled to close his business. 
Appointments generally are made 
for him by Ernest G. Liebold, who 
is Mr. Ford's general secretary, to 
whom he has delegated great power. 
He often acts for Mr. Ford. Mr. 
Liebold's assistant is Frank Camp- 
sail, who possesses much ability and 
a pleasing personality. 

It has been said that Mr. Ford 
does not read the newspapers, and 
that he does not keep in touch with 

148 



Henry Ford's Personality 

the affairs of the day. Both state- 
ments are untrue. Mr. Ford reads 
the morning papers more regularly 
than he eats his breakfast; he 
glances through the noon editions 
and the evening papers are always 
put by his favorite chair and read- 
ing light. He goes through them 
carefully. Moreover, he receives 
many cartoons and clippings that 
refer to him, both favorable and un- 
favorable. 

The activities of his experts show 
that Mr. Ford is in touch with mod- 
ern conditions and needs. His 
chemical department has perfected 
a gasoline substitute by liquifying 
gases that form much as coke is 
made from coal. The same depart- 
ment has made tests with a milk 
substitute which is purer than the 
average cow's milk and which, it is 
hoped, will prove a blessing to 

149 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

many thousands of ailing babies. 
Mr. Ford frequently discusses small 
communities as industrial centers 
and many similar subjects. 

It has happened not infrequently 
that persons who never knew Mr. 
Ford have drawn freely from their 
imagination to substantiate the 
claim that they are familiar with 
all the details of his life. A book 
was written by a writer with *no 
more foundation than a few inter- 
views with Mr. Ford as he stepped 
from an elevator or walked in the 
park with his wife. Nearly all the 
stories of the financial difficulties 
of the inventor in the early days of 
his car-making come from vivid im- 
agination and nothing else. 



At twenty-eight Mr. Ford's only 
son is at the head of the motor 

150 



Henry Ford's Personality 

plant. The heir to vast wealth, it 
would not be unusual if he devoted 
much of his time to golf and other 
amusements and spent months at 
winter and summer resorts, or, like 
many another son of a rich father, 
let Dad do the work. Instead Edsel 
Bryant Ford is at his desk every 
morning. Those who know him 
well say that he has his father's 
genius, enthusiasm and common 
sense and his mother's poise, and 
that he is a young man of ability 
and strength of character. 

Edsel Ford was a small child in 
the days when his father was strug- 
gling to get a start in the automo- 
bile industry, and he naturally has 
both love and respect for the great 
business that his father founded 
and built up. He had no college 
education, for he was schooled in 
the factory; starting in an unim- 

151 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

portant position he worked his way 
through the various departments 
and learned the entire business first 
hand. The draft board granted 
him one of the ten thousand exemp- 
tions that were given industrial 
workers in Detroit. The board 
felt that he was more needed in 
the factory than in active military 
service. Not by a word or gesture 
did Mr. Ford seek to keep his son 
out of war. 

* * * 

Mr. Ford seldom wears a hat and 
his hair is snowy white. He is a 
frail looking man, with shoulders 
slightly stooped, and he usually 
wears a gray suit that matches his 
gray eyes. His features are deli- 
cate, his hands and feet small, and 
his height about five feet nine 
inches. In manner he is friendly 

152 



Henry Ford's Personality 

and genial, and although very re- 
tiring he is a delightful conversa- 
tionalist. He has traveled much, 
has inherited a touch of his father's 
keen Irish wit and enjoys a hearty 
laugh. Around his home he whistles 
like a school boy. He is devoted to 
outdoor life, but abhors hunting. 
He will not allow anything to be 
killed on his land, not even the 
crickets, nor will he permit the ser- 
vants to drive away birds. 

Among his friends he is known 
for his quaint and apt expressions. 
With a quizzical glance at a rainy 
sky he will remark, " You can't 
change the weather, so change your 
attitude toward it." " Pool your 
knowledge " is a favorite bit of ad- 
vice he gives, and a comment fa- 
miliar to his intimates is, " It takes 
pluck, not luck, to make people suc- 
cessful/' One Sunday while he and 

153 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

Mrs. Ford were attending services 
in the Episcopal cathedral in De- 
troit Mr. Ford's car was stolen from 
in front of the church. Since then 
he laughingly declares that he has 
lost interest in church services. And 
he is fond of saying that he "be- 
lieves in religion, but doesn't work 
at it much." 

His country estate of seven 
thousand acres was ten miles from 
Detroit, but extends almost to what 
is now the city limits. There Mr. 
Ford lives the year 'round, enter- 
tains his friends and is happy 
among his birds and trees. A part 
of his grounds extends behind the 
Dearborn village school. It is a 
natural amphitheatre, and Mr. 
Ford has had it cleared for the use 
of the school athletic association. 
He delights in driving through the 
village where his own boyhood was 

154 



Henry Ford's Personality 

spent, filling his limousine with 
boys and girls and carrying them 
off for a picnic in the woods. For 
his personal use he generally drives 
a small gray closed car — a Mar- 
mon — but he has, of course, many 
other cars, including a " flock of 
Fords." 

He is a skillful camp fire cook, 
and one of his favorite amusements 
is a steak broiling contest with some 
titled visitor. On such occasions 
he personally selects the meat at 
the butcher's. His frequent visit- 
ors include John Burroughs, who 
died recently, Thomas A. Edison 
and Harvey S. Firestone. These 
four regularly spent two weeks to- 
gether camping or touring, their 
automobiles followed by a " house 
on wheels/ 5 a large motor truck 
equipped like the prairie wagons in 
which the western sheep herders 

155 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

cook, live and sleep. Mr. Ford and 
Mr. Firestone, being in the same 
business, have many interests in 
common. Mr. Ford and Mr. Edi- 
son have been the closest of friends 
for twenty years. Both are pos- 
sessed of many similar character- 
istics and have the same tireless, 
inventive genius. Both believe 
that "success is one-tenth inspira- 
tion and nine-tenths perspiration." 
They have consulted each other in 
their problems and correspond by 
letter and occasionally by wireless, 
for both have wireless stations at 
their homes. 

Mr. Ford first met John Bur- 
roughs some twenty years ago when 
the great naturalist was visiting in 
Detroit. Their devotion to the out- 
of-doors soon made them the clos- 
est of friends, and that friendship 
was unbroken until death took the 

156 



Henry Ford's Personality 

naturalist a few months ago. The 
last time Henry Ford saw his old 
friend alive was in December, 
1920. At that time Mr. and Mrs. 
Ford visited the Burroughs place, 
Riverby- on -Hudson. Mr. Ford 
stopped at a butcher shop on the 
way and bought a number of choice 
steaks so that "J. B." could prepare 
what he called " brigand steaks/ 5 
Here are the directions: Place a 
steak, a slice of bacon and an onion 
on a long green stick and hold over 
the hot coals, turning often. Mr. 
Ford, although he had never men- 
tioned it, hired men to clear up Mr. 
Burroughs' rocky land and also paid 
off the mortgage so that the natur- 
alist would not lose his paternal 
homestead. This Mr. Burroughs 
mentioned in his will. 

Mr. Ford still takes a keen de- 
light in skating, and the small lake 

157 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

on his estate is kept clear of snow 
from the first freeze to the coming 
of spring. There Mr. Ford spends 
many winter evenings gliding over 
the ice. It is to such pastimes as 
this, no doubt, that he largely owes 
his excellent health. He has lived 
all his life practically in the same 
spot and even today he seldom 
leaves the vicinity of Dearborn for 
any length of time with the excep- 
tion of a summer cruise on his 
yacht, a hasty trip of inspection or 
for a brief camping trip with old 
friends. 

The Ford residence is of gray 
native stone and built along Gothic 
lines. His study is in the round 
tower. Long bookcases shelter his 
books, the technical ones among 
them showing plainly their con- 
stant use, and a large window looks 
toward the bungalow which Mr. 

158 



Henry Ford's Personality 

Ford built in the first days of his 
prosperity as a resting place where 
he would be safe from intrusion. 
Its broad veranda and great fire- 
place surrounded with easy chairs 
make it comfortable in summer or 
winter. The study windows over- 
look what at first glance seems an 
Indian mound, but which is the na- 
tural shelter for the electric boat 
which Mrs. Ford drives up and 
down the river. All the windows 
give a view of the River Rouge, 
which has been compared to the 
James in Virginia. 

Within a short distance of the 
residence is the gray stone garage 
in which are Mr. Ford's laboratory 
and experiment rooms, and where 
he perfected the tractor on which 
he worked harder than on any other 
of his inventions. In reality this 
garage building is a modern power 

159 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

plant with exceptionally heavy 
walls to shut in all noise. Here the 
inventor often labors until late in 
the night, just as he did in the red 
brick barn in Bagley street, Detroit, 
where he made his first car. 



About ten years ago a certain 
clergyman in Detroit, who was am- 
bitious to build a costly church, 
went to Mr. Ford for a contribu- 
tion, hoping to get a large sum. 

" No/' replied the millionaire, 
" I don't believe in expensive 
churches/' 

" Then," said the clergyman, 
"will you come to my next service 
and let me preach a sermon espec- 
ially for you? I hope to convince 
you that you are wrong." 

The following Sunday the min- 
ister cast a searching eye over his 

160 



Henry Ford's Personality 

congregation; then he announced 
his text. It was from I Chronicles, 
17 chapter and first verse: "And 
it came to pass, when David dwelt 
in his house that David said to 
Nathan, the prophet: ' Lo, I dwell 
in a house of cedar, but the ark of 
the covenant of the Lord dwelleth 
under curtains/ The minister 
raised his eyes from his Bible and 
explained : ' The word curtains 
used here means tents." He fol- 
lowed the text by reading verses 
one. two, four, five and nine with 
especial emphasis on the fourth, 
fifth and ninth. Then he turned 
the pages to II Samuel, 7 chapter, 
and read: 

"And Xathan said to the 
King, 'Go, do all that is in 
thine heart; for the Lord is 
with thee.' 

"And it came to pass the 

161 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

same night, that the word of 
the Lord came unto Nathan, 
saying : 

"'Go and tell my servant 
David, " Thus saith the Lord, 
Shalt thou build me an house 
for me to dwell in. 

" ' I have been with thee 
withersoever thou wen test and 
have cut off thine enemies 
from before thee and I will 
make thee a great name, like 
unto the name of the great 
ones that are on the earth/ 

The clergyman launched into his 
sermon. After he was well started 
he fixed his eye on Henry Ford and 
said: "The church is the dynamo 
of the Lord's business. It is right 
and proper that churches should be 
beautiful and should be as lovely 
as it is possible to make them. 

162 



Henry Ford's Personality 

Why should we live in fine houses, 
houses of cedar, and worship the 
Lord in tents ? There is a rich man 
in this city, a very rich man, who 
considers that his engine is the 
dynamo of his factory. It has al- 
ways been the custom to place such 
engines near the rear, in an ugly 
section of a factory, facing an alley. 
This rich man had put his engine 
in the front part of his factory, it 
is in a beautiful room with pure 
white tiling. He keeps men con- 
stantly polishing and cleaning it; 
he has surrounded it with handsome 
plate glass windows. The engine 
faces the most expensive thorough- 
fare in our city. Sightseers stop to 
admire its immaculate beauty. The 
very rich man loves this engine; he 
surrounds it with the best that 
money can buy. He considers it 
the dynamo of his business. This 

163 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

is true with churches. They are 
the dynamo of the Lord's business. 
They should have in and around 
them everything that is lovely and 
beautiful. No expense should be 
spared in the construction of a 
church nor in its location/' 

The minister went on and on 
with his argument. The following 
week he went to see his richest 
parishioner. No mention was made 
of the sermon until he was leaving. 

" I haven't changed my mind," 
said Mr. Ford then. ' I feel just 
as I did. I don't believe in ex- 
pensive churches. But I do think 
that a minister should be paid a 
salary that will enable him to live 
in comfort and lay by something, 
so that he can buy a home or a farm 
or a little place in the country 
where he can round out his last 
days. I'm going to disappoint you; 

164 



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Henry Ford's Personality 

I'm not going to give you anything 
for your new church." He handed 
the minister an envelope. " Please 
give that to your wife when you get 
home, just a little token of my re- 
gard for you both/ 5 

When the rector returned home 
he told his wife about the disap- 
pointing visit and handed her the 
envelope. In it were twenty one- 
hundred dollar bills. 

The rector later built his big 
church. He succeeded in his am- 
bitions. He was taken abroad, and 
sent to various parts of the country 
by the millionaire; eventually he 
received a large salary. 

Eventually the minister and his 
wife drove into the country; they 
found and bought a little fruit 
place, with a tiny house on it, some- 
thing to tie to in case of old age or 
misfortune. 

165 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

It is characteristic of Henry 
Ford that he took no offense to the 
frankness of the sermon, but it did 
not change his mind. 



In order to keep his factory run- 
ning full blast through December, 
1920, Mr. Ford took a loss of fif- 
teen millions. Against the advice 
of business associates he kept pro- 
duction going until after Christmas 
Day. When New York reporters 
telephoned his office he refused to 
give his reasons for the shut down, 
his idea being that a statement re- 
garding his retrenchments and the 
re-organization of his business 
might depress the market. Imme- 
diately there arose wild rumors that 
he was in financial difficulties. 
Happily, these were untrue. His 
aversion for borrowing has placed 

166 



Henry Ford's Personality 

his gigantic undertakings on a safe 
financial footing. Detroit is not 
New York; Griswold is not Wall 
Street, but a prominent Detroit 
banker has said : " If Henry Ford 
should need large sums of money, 
Detroit will secure it for him." 

However, it was the serious ill- 
ness of his only son, who went 
through an appendicitis operation, 
which caused Mr, Ford grave con- 
cern during the winter of 1920-21, 
and not financial difficulties. 

A joy he is getting from his 
money is refurnishing his mother's 
old home, which he bought from his 
brother, John. As stated before, 
the town line when finally surveyed 
ran through this house. The county 
commissioners ordered the house 
moved so that a road called 
c Townline " could be built. Ac- 
cordingly, the dwelling was thrust 

167 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

back to make way for progress, and 
the forest trees in the yard were 
hewn down because they interfered 
with the grading. Mr. Ford is hav- 
ing similar trees placed around the 
old home. He has gone into the 
attics and barns of his brothers' 
houses and has found discarded 
furniture which he associates with 
his mother's memory and he has 
said to the rest of the family: 
" Before many years roll by we will 
begin to grow old. We will fix the 
home place like mother and father 
had it. We were so happy when 
we were children there together." 

More than his vast wealth, Mr. 
Ford's real riches consist of a wife, 
whose constant thought is his health 
and well being; a loving son and 
two small grandsons, who are his 
pride and joy. 



168 



CHAPTER X. 

His Wife and His Home 

No one could hope to write an 
adequate review of the develop- 
ment of Henry Ford's life and 
character without including some 
account of the wife who has meant 
so much to him in so many ways 
from the day he devised the watch 
with four hands, through all his 
struggles, disappointments and suc- 
cesses, down to the present time. 
During all these years the home 
life of Mr. and Mrs. Ford has been 
ideal. 

One must know Mrs. Ford inti- 
mately to understand fully her part 
in the Ford achievements. She is 
thoroughly home-loving, capable 
and charming. So considerate is she, 

169 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

so unpretentious and gracious, that 
visitors to the Ford home forget 
that their hostess is one of the rich- 
est women in the world, owning in 
her own right a one-third interest 
in the corporation that is reported 
to pay an annual tax of eighty 
millions, 

Mrs. Ford dresses in shades of 
brown or blue, and mink and sable 
are her favorite furs. She is small 
of figure, youthful in appearance, 
with chestnut hair and most ex- 
pressive eyes. Her voice is low and 
musical. We sat one winter after- 
noon in the sun parlor of her home 
watching the birds about the weath- 
er-worn stump on which each win- 
ter day she places fresh grain for 
her feathered friends. Beyond, the 
River Rouge wound in and out 
among tall forest trees, snow cov- 
ered the ground and the frozen 

170 



His Wife and His Home 

water was a sheet of gray ice. Be- 
hind us in the drawing room, which 
is paneled in French - bleached 
American walnut and furnished 
with cozy chairs and heavy velvet 
draperies of mulberry color, long 
hickory logs were crackling cheer- 
fully in the carved white marble 
fireplace. The conversation drifted 
to the part that woman must take 
in present day affairs. 

c There are so many demands for 
help that it would be unfair to 
take them lightly or to consider 
them in a haphazard, happy-go- 
lucky fashion/ 5 she said softly. " If 
they are handled carefully and sys- 
tematically women can uplift, not 
pauperize, those they seek to help. 
Every village, town, city and state 
has its problems to solve. It seems 
to me that every home -loving 
woman should use her personal in- 

171 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

fluence to cope with all the issues 
that directly and indirectly touch 
her home. If she does this/' she 
added with a smile, "she will be 
compelled to take an active interest 
in politics. She may have to get 
out her school books and brush up 
on community civics and the sci- 
ence of government; for woe be 
unto her if she fails to understand 
exactly what she is undertaking. 
Of course/' she added whimsically, 
"it would be easier and pleasanter 
to sit at home by the fire and knit, 
or chat idly over our teacups; but 
those pastimes are slipping from 
us." 

Mrs. Ford seldom has an idle 
moment. Large wealth has brought 
her pleasures and privileges ; it has 
also brought heavy responsibilities. 
Each day she receives volumes of 
mail. Her desk overflows with ap- 

172 



His Wife and His Home 

peals for help ; to answer them per- 
sonally would be an endless task. 
Her name and assistance are sought 
by local, state, national and inter- 
national welfare workers. Person- 
ally she visits the detention homes ; 
she lunches at the House of Cor- 
rection ; she consults with the wom- 
en's police board officials. Each 
case she seeks to help is first investi- 
gated by experts through author- 
ized channels. Some of us know 
of thousands of families she helped 
while the factories were closed; 
many of those she visited ; to others 
she sent her agents. She works con- 
stantly for the Girls 5 Protective 
League and other active organiza- 
tions. For many years she has been 
treasurer of the Priscilla Inn, a 
home in Detroit, where girls can 
lead carefully chaperoned lives and 
enjoy comforts not easily obtained 

173 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

in an overcrowded manufacturing 
city like Detroit. 

Three miles beyond the Fords' 
Dearborn estate, and half-way be- 
tween Detroit and the University 
of Michigan at Ann Arbor, is a 
square, red brick home, ' Valley 
Farm. 5 ' Passers-by, in automobiles 
or on speeding interurbans, gaze at 
it with frank curiosity. It is under- 
stood that Mrs. Ford is deeply in- 
terested in social and welfare prob- 
lems and that this Valley Farm be- 
longs to her. If the inventions and 
vast wealth of Henry Ford have 
made him a world figure, they have 
made the activities of his wife of 
interest wherever their name is 
known. The general public knows 
little of the work accomplished at 
Valley Farm ; except that it is some 
sort of rescue work. The old house 
is bravely facing new conditions. 

174 



His Wife and His Home 

It is doing ultra-modern work; de- 
veloped scientifically, by profes- 
sionally trained workers, for the 
benefit of posterity. This is pos- 
sibly the strongest link in the chain 
of work of the Dunbar Memorial 
Woman's Hospital, and the most 
far-reaching of all the great 
and good achievements of Detroit 
women. The farm, thirteen miles 
out in the country, has proved a 
boon to the hospital in Detroit, 
which is located on the busy, noisy 
corner of Frederick and St. An- 
toine. 

Through Mrs. Ford's courage 
and thoughtfulness in sponsoring 
this work, its results will be felt to 
many generations. It has meant 
the salvation of thousands, whose 
successful reclamation has blazed 
the trail for welfare workers. 

What has actually been accom- 

175 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

plished is of more importance than 
any general theorizing. Mrs. Ford 
has been affectionately called "the 
erring girl's friend." She says, 
" Men are willing to help boys and 
men; it behooves women to help 
womankind. This is not as easy 
to do as it sounds. Weakness and 
impulsiveness have brought trouble 
and distress to many girls and to 
their families. It is wonderful 
what has been done for them by 
those in charge at Valley Farm. 
They do it beautifully and sympa- 
thetically. They reach the girls 
when they are friendless, depressed 
and often bitterly antagonistic to 
the world. The quiet activities in- 
clude two months' training in hy- 
giene, household arts and parental 
duties. The kindly, far-sighted 
board of trustees and the tireless, 
unselfish trained nurses assist each 

176 






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Mrs. Ford — From a late photograph presented 
to the author. 



His Wife and His Home 

one to secure work and to establish 
a clean, wholesome home." 



Mrs. Ford has opened the door 
of opportunity for many ambitious 
people, and has put success within 
the grasp of others. She is con- 
stantly lending a helping hand to 
those who need it most. Each day 
she is confronted with a round of 
duties, for she is the energetic, ca- 
pable type of American womanhood 
which is playing a tremendous part 
in world affairs today. Her creed 
is that " Money should be used to 
make the world better, not to create 
envy and breed selfishness." 

Being a musician, Mrs. Ford has 
a concert piano in her family living- 
room; a pipe organ in the walls of 
her drawing-room; in her library, 
which is lined from floor to ceiling 

177 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

with much-read books, is a Vic- 
trola; in her sun-parlor an Edison. 
" Music is refreshing/' she says. 

She organized the Dearborn Gar- 
den Club, of which she has long 
been president, and through her in- 
fluence the members combine wel- 
fare work with nature study. This 
club holds two annual flower shows. 
Blue Ridge Mountain rhododen- 
dron, which in June is laden with 
gorgeous pink blossoms, flanks the 
Ford doorway and the lovely gray- 
stone mansion is very comfortable, 
very homelike. 

Seven thousand acres are in the 
estate. The land stretches back to 
the city limits and in the opposite 
direction toward the tractor plant 
at River Rouge. The first home 
built by Mr. Ford still stands in 
the grounds. It is an attractive, 
white frame farm house, with a 

178 



His Wife and His Home 

wide veranda and green roof, and 
is furnished as it was during their 
early housekeeping days. Near it 
is a rustic bungalow, where guests 
are sometimes entertained. 

In spring and summer a rush of 
lilac and heliotrope fragrance surges 
through the open windows of Mrs. 
Ford's rooms. These purple flowers 
are banked around the gray-stone 
walls, border the flagstone walk 
and cluster under the big trees. 
The heliotrope trees she propagated 
are from slips which the mistress of 
the house raised with infinite care. 
In autumn they are taken into the 
conservatory; the following spring 
they are re-set outdoors. This 
cycle, followed year by year, has 
produced specimens five feet in 
height, with trunks four inches in 
circumference. Some of her other 
flowers are blue larkspur, yellow 

179 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

gaillardias, bronze salpiglossis, 
blue seabosa, sweet peas, asters, 
shirley poppies, marigold, blue ver- 
bena and gourds which she raises to 
please her grandchildren. The rose 
garden is the only bit of formal 
landscape. She said one day while 
talking about her flowers : "I can- 
not buy everything I crave. Like 
my mother I love old-fashioned 
pinks. I haunted florists' shops, old 
homes and cemeteries in search of 
these tiny, red-flecked, spicily 
scented plants. It was my dress- 
maker's sister who, generously, sent 
the basket of roots to form the 
nucleus of my large beds. 55 

Two miles from the estate can 
be seen the twinkling lights of the 
little village of Dearborn. To it 
she has given a library site, and has 
built and given to the Episcopal 
church a large brick rectory; she is 

180 



His Wife and His Home 

a member of the social service com- 
mittee of her church. Greenfield, 
where she was born and reared, is 
five miles from Dearborn. In the 
summer Mrs. Ford takes a family 
party for a cruise on their yacht. 
She has traveled the world over, 
but, with the exception of a small 
place at Fort Myers, Florida, which 
Thomas Edison persuaded them to 
purchase next to his winter cottage, 
the Fords have never owned a 
home outside of Detroit or Wayne 
County. " We have lived here al- 
ways," she says, " and here we love 
to stay." 

Persistent sightseers have made 
it necessary to keep the gates of the 
estate locked and guarded. All the 
servants, both in and outside the 
mansion, have held their positions 
many years. They have an air of 
courteous consideration and soft- 

181 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

ness of voice which they seemed to 
have caught from the owners of the 
home. 

The country and the wide out- 
doors hold for Mrs. Ford more at- 
tractions than the social life of any 
city, yet in her home she has enter- 
tained inventors, statesmen, capi- 
talists and titled visitors. John 
Burroughs was a frequent guest. 
He enjoyed the birds, flowers and 
native trees which are under the 
care of Longfeather, a southern In- 
dian. In the library is an auto- 
graphed set of Burroughs' books; 
in a secluded part of the grounds 
is a rough bronze statue of him, 
and on the drawing-room table an 
exquisite miniature of the great 
naturalist. John Burroughs once 
sent to Mr. and Mrs. Ford a car- 
load of red sandstone from the 
Catskill mountains of his beloved 

182 



His Wife and His Home 

native state, New York. These 
stones were worked into a sort of 
shelter for the bronze figure and 
for the bird pool near it. This spot 
the Fords called their " Burroughs 
Nook." Many rare birds, includ- 
ing Kirkland's Warbler and other 
unusual members of the feathered 
family, tarry at this quiet retreat, 
and here Burroughs, himself, dis- 
covered several northern birds, in- 
cluding the Bohemian waxwing, 
which he had long hoped to see, but 
had never been able to find else- 
where. 

Since his death Mrs. Ford and 
Mrs. Edison have been made mem- 
bers of the executive board of the 
Burroughs Memorial association. 
They attended his funeral and 
went to New York two weeks later 
to formulate plans for preserving 
Woodchuck Lodge, Slab Sides 

183 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

(where Burroughs had his study 
and where he used to write his 
books) and Riverby, which was a 
more pretentious home near Pough- 
keepsie, just outside of the small 
town of West Park, New York. 
Mrs. Edison and Mrs. Ford are to 
be the only two women on this ex- 
ecutive memorial board. 

At the beginning of the Euro- 
pean war Mrs. Ford leased Ought- 
rington Hall, in Chestshire Town- 
ship, England, a short distance 
from Warwick, where her mother 
was born. She equipped it as a 
home for Belgian refugees; one 
hundred at a time were clothed, fed 
and sheltered there. As they found 
friends, relatives or work elsewhere 
others were secured from the Lon- 
don clearing house. Teachers were 
employed for the children ; a school 
room was furnished ; outdoor tennis 

184 



His Wife and His Home 

courts were covered and heated for 
a supervised playground. Tailoring 
and other trades were taught the 
refugees. Among them was a Cath- 
olic priest, and a chapel was 
equipped in which he said mass and 
held other services. Wonderful re- 
sults were accomplished, as is at- 
tested by letters and documents 
from the Lord Mayor and others. 
After the armistice the furniture 
and equipment were sold and the 
proceeds placed with the Man- 
chester Belgian Relief Fund to be 
used by that organization. When 
Elizabeth, Queen of the Belgians, 
visited this country, Mrs. Ford was 
one of the few women on whom 
she bestowed her medal which is 
inscribed : " Pro patria Honor e et 
Cart ate!' 

Mrs. Ford's most intimate friends 
are those she knew in girlhood or 

185 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

before the advent of automobiles. 
Her poise and culture, her innate 
goodness, make her immensely pop- 
ular. Her judgment and clear in- 
tellect have been of untold value 
to her gifted husband. Their ideal 
home life is a happy demonstration 
that love does not dwell only in a 
cottage. The following incidents 
somewhat indicate her tastes. 

Shortly before the holidays in 
1920, while she was shopping in 
New York, the clerk of a Fifth 
Avenue shop asked her to inspect 
the Duke of Hamilton's silver ser- 
vice. It weighed seventeen hun- 
dred pounds, and was heavily 
crested. It had been sold to a 
young mid-western manufacturer 
to match his dining-room set, also 
purchased from the Duke's estate. 
" Would Mrs. Ford care to place 
an order for similar silver? r ' 

186 




His Wife and His Home 

She has a vivacious and cordial 
smile. " I have no ambition to col- 
lect heirlooms of royalty/' she re- 
plied. " My resources are needed 
elsewhere/' 

The undaunted clerk produced a 
short string of pearls, each as large 
as a hazel nut. " Only a half mil- 
lion dollars/ 5 he urged suavely, as 
he laid them on a black velvet 
square to accent their creamy sheen 
and luster. 

Mrs. Ford shook her head. " At 
home I have the finest jewels in the 
world/' she remarked, as she con- 
cluded her purchases. " Nothing 
you have on sale can equal them/ 5 

The Fords have one son; his 
home is ten miles east of Detroit, 
in Grosse Pointe on Lake Sainte 
Claire, near the point where it joins 
the Detroit River. The Henry 
Ford estate is ten miles west of the 

187 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

city on the Rouge, which also flows 
into the Detroit river. A private 
telephone wire connects Mr. Ford's 
study with his son's; a private wire 
connects Mrs. Ford's bedroom with 
the sleeping porch of her grand- 
children, Henry II and Edsel 
junior, chubby, golden-haired, blue- 
eyed cherubs. Like the Athenian 
mother, Mrs. Ford says: "These 
are my jewels." 



188 



CHAPTER XI. 

The Ford Factory, Foundry and 
Trade School 

When the first Ford factory out- 
grew the Piquette street plant, the 
larger plant in Highland Park was 
built. This is really a great indus- 
trial city in itself. It covers one 
hundred and twenty acres and em- 
ploys fifty-three thousand men. 
Each employee receives his wages 
twice a month; yet every day is a 
pay day in some section of the 
plant and a half million dollars is 
handed the men. 

In the Ford organization are men 
doing every conceivable kind of 
work. The factory operates its own 
power, heating and lighting plant, 
fire department, telephone and tele- 

189 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

graph exchange, freight and ex- 
press offices, hospital, safety and 
hygiene departments, motion pic- 
ture studio, park and athletic field, 
band and auditorium, educational 
and legal departments, grocery, 
drug and shoe stores, meat market, 
tailor shop, and publishes its own 
newspaper — the Ford News. 

The Ford fire alarm system is 
said to be more efficient and up-to- 
date than any other in the country, 
even including the cities of New 
York and Chicago. Ninety experi- 
enced fire fighters are employed in 
the plant and two hundred trained 
workmen are ready to aid at an in- 
stant's notice. When a general 
alarm is sounded the automatic call 
goes instantly to the Superintend- 
ent's office, factory service office, 
fire department headquarters and 
Chief Engineer's office. The minute, 

190 



The Factory, Foundry and School 

hour, day, month, year and box 
from which the call comes are thus 
recorded. Three hundred call sta- 
tions are placed throughout the 
factory, two hundred feet apart. 

The medical department is won- 
derful and is one of the most mod- 
ern institutions of its kind in the 
world. This is entirely separate 
and distinct from the Henry Ford 
Hospital, built at a cost of three 
million dollars and rented to the 
government during and after the 
war for one dollar a year. Mr. Ford 
calls this his garage. "It is my 
shop/' he says, " where I hope 
people can get well as rapidly as 
possible and have their injured 
parts repaired/' A pretty bit of 
sentiment is connected with the tall 
elms that reach to the fifth story 
of this building. They were moved 
from his Dearborn estate and re- 

191 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

planted so that the new part of the 
hospital, which is the same length 
as the National Capitol, is sur- 
rounded by old trees that once had 
their roots in the soil of his boyhood 
home. This hospital was not built 
to serve the very poor, for whom 
free clinics are provided, nor to 
serve the very rich, who can afford 
to pay large surgical fees; but is 
for those of us who find it difficult 
to make ends meet and to whom 
heavy hospital bills are a calamity. 
The moving picture laboratory, 
in the Highland Park plant, is 
remarkable. Its educational pic- 
tures are shown in seventy per cent 
of our country's theaters. It may 
not be known that these are sent to 
Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, 
South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Nor- 
way, Japan, China, Alaska and 
other countries. Mr. Ford^ desires 

192 



<*5 







The Factory, Foundry and School 

that they be used in the large and 
small schools, wherever they can be 
of service or can give pleasure. 
Therefore, the rental price to 
schools is fifty cents a day per reel. 
The movie staff includes many of 
the best-known specialists in educa- 
tional lines, under whose guidance 
are editors, scenario writers and 
directors. They strive to produce 
films of value to teachers through- 
out the land, to be used for in- 
structing their pupils. 

The Ford educational depart- 
ment, its welfare work and Ameri- 
canization school have been treated 
at length elsewhere. The Ford 
trade school is in a large wing of 
the plant which serves as a school 
building. It is incorporated under 
the Michigan laws and extends to 
a limited number the opportunity 
to continue their academic educa- 

193 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

tion while learning a trade. It is 
one of the best plans for salvaging 
some of our destitute boys, or boys 
who have no one to care if they 
succeed or fail. Mr. Ford is not 
willing for them to be called desti- 
tute; he prefers to think of them 
as boys without friends. For sev- 
eral years he maintained a home for 
homeless boys near his estate. This 
required such a large amount of his 
time and interest that he planned 
the trade school. Each student re- 
ceives a scholarship which amounts 
to four hundred dollars annually, 
divided into semi-monthly por- 
tions. This enables him to be self- 
supporting while studying. His 
scholarship is increased in accord- 
ance with his ability and effort 
until it reaches nine hundred dol- 
lars. To develop thrift one dollar 
is added to each pay envelope, pro- 

194 



The Factory, Foundry and School 

vided the boy keeps a savings ac- 
count. There are fifteen instructors 
employed; a board of five members 
directs the policy of the school, and 
a long waiting list is kept of boys 
who wish to be admitted. Mr. 
Searles, the head of the school, is a 
distinguished educator. 

Mr. Ford realizes that the future 
of our country depends on the boys 
and girls of to-day. He gives to 
those he befriends his money, his 
time and thought, and to each an 
opportunity to achieve success. 
They will be the men and women 
of to-morrow, and it is his hope 
that they become good and honor- 
able citizens. 

Some idea of the gigantic size of 
the Ford organization may be se- 
cured from the fact that besides the 
Highland Park plant, the tractor 
plant is located at the River Rouge 

195 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

foundry, where twenty-one railroad 
tracks enter. Here at one point a 
log goes in and at another point 
comes out a finished body. There 
are thirty-one assembling plants in 
this country and others in different 
parts of North and South America, 
Europe, Australia and the Orient. 
During the past year nearly one 
hundred thousand freight cars were 
needed to handle Ford shipments. 
Every other available method of 
transportation was used also, such 
as express companies, parcel post 
and motor truck. 

With a total of sixty-six thou- 
sand employees in the Highland 
Park, River Rouge and Dearborn 
plants, it is a conservative estimate 
to say that one-fourth of the men, 
women and children in Detroit and 
its environs are directly dependent 
on the Ford industries for support, 

196 



The Factory^ Foundry and School 

and that an equal number are in- 
directly supported from this source. 
It is said that man's efficiency has 
been increased 66 per cent by the 
automobile; families and friends 
have been drawn closer together; 
health has improved; lives have 
been prolonged. It has given more 
service and pleasure than any other 
invention in the last several dec- 
ades. The inventor who built a 
car within the reach of the mass of 
the people has been a benefactor to 
his fellow man, and has helped 
make history. 



For sentimental reasons the 
hand-made bricks that were in the 
foundation of Ten Eyck's tavern 
are part of the huge fireplace in the 
trophy room, on the lower floor of 
the Ford mansion. The great iron 

197 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

horse storms through Wayne Coun- 
ty at a more rapid rate as it paral- 
lels the Michigan highway toward 
Chicago. The forests have been 
cleared. There are no more Indians 
about. For many years the Dear- 
born arsenal has not been used as 
an army post, but the thick, gray 
stockade walls still stand. One of 
the square, gray buildings flanked 
by twin chimneys is the City Hall, 
where William Ford acts as Mayor. 
The old site of Ten Eyck's tavern 
is interesting to people who flash 
by in their motors, because it is the 
entrance to Henry Ford's estate. 
The gray-stone entrance is kept 
locked and guarded; it is adjacent 
to the gatekeeper's tiny gray-stone 
cottage, tucked quaintly under its 
Indian red-tiled roof; around it, 
sturdy forests look down on the 
spot from which William Cremer 

198 



The Factory, Foundry and School 

won his wager that he could beat 
the iron horse into Dearbornville, 
just two miles away. 



199 



CHAPTER XII. 



His " Honest-to-Goodness Ameri- 



canism ' 



Five years ago a rainbow of 
promise, with a bag of gold at each 
end, hung over a great industrial 
plant. When the rainbow appeared 
some called it a menace, but it grew 
brighter and clearer; some of the 
colors became obscure; three came 
out stronger than all the others, 
and behind them stars formed the 
two words, ' Americans all." At 
each end of the rainbow the bags 
emptied an endless stream of gold, 
and with the gold came freedom 
from old industrial conditions, and 
with the freedom came the privi- 
leges and obligations of American 
citizenship. 

200 



'Honest-to-Goodness Americanism 

Henry Ford made automobiles 
to defray the expense of his main 
business, which was the making of 
men. He took wise men and good 
men, successful and unsuccessful. 
He took Americans of good old 
colonial stock and laborers from 
every nook and corner of obscure 
foreign lands. He took men with 
the stigma of wrong-doing upon 
their lives. He took untried men 
and men who had tried and failed. 
Through one great system he put 
them all, to determine the number 
who would come out pure gold. 
He thrust aside labor organizations 
and paid his workers wages at that 
time considered fabulous. He had 
his own dreams and he followed 
them to fulfillment. 

Beyond a few brief newspaper 
reports, the light of publicity never 
disclosed the inner workings of 

201 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

Henry Ford's mind, yet the spirit 
of it permeates the country from 
Canada to the Gulf and from the 
Atlantic to the Pacific where other 
plants have used the Ford idea on 
a smaller scale. The pioneer who 
began the movement has been as- 
sailed and held up for ridicule, yet 
he was the first advocate of simon- 
pure Americanism in industry. 
What would his critics have said 
had they known that he took the 
dean of a great cathedral, made 
him head of a vast educational sys- 
tem and gave him power no clergy- 
man ever before had had in the 
history of business — entire author- 
ity over the living conditions of the 
Ford workmen and real influence 
in the case of labor difficulties? 
Labor difficulties, however, refused 
to arise. During strikes at nearby 
plants the Ford workers remained 

202 



'Hones t-to-Goodness' Americanism 

at their posts, performing their 
labors in contented prosperity. 

Henry Ford had evolved a sys- 
tem so unique and remarkable that 
his plans and dreams blend, making 
a practical whole which has actually 
benefited over fifty thousand homes. 
The foundation is education and 
Americanization. That the system 
has paid commercially is only a side 
issue, but one of tremendous im- 
portance — marking the ideal ad- 
justment of capital and labor, and 
proving beyond doubt that the ex- 
periment is overwhelmingly correct. 
The assistants in this department 
are called advisors, and the welfare 
work they are doing is as helpful 
as it is novel. What they do and 
how they do it will be explained 
later. 

Mr. Ford states his position 
frankly. " If I can make men of 

203 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

my employees, I need have no fear 
for my business/' he says. " Every- 
thing I do to help them ultimately 
benefits me; the more money I 
spend on them, the more enthusi- 
asm they will have for my interests 
and the more money they will make 
for themselves and for me." 

And he uses all possible labor- 
saving devices, for he says : ' The 
less fatigued a man is when he 
leaves his work the more self- 
improvement can he gain during 
leisure hours." This is the message 
of Henry Ford to mankind: "Be 
your brother's helper." In his plant 
Bolshevism has not dared to rear 
its serpent head. 

The Ford plan is not to build 
elaborate libraries, gymnasiums or 
lunch rooms for the employees, but 
serviceable and substantial ones. 
The difference in the expense is 

204 



'Honest-to-Goodness' Americanism 

given the working men for their 
homes, their living and their fami- 
lies. It is not the possession of 
money but the right use of it which 
is emphasized. Mr. Ford holds that 
the system of education which in- 
creases, through the so-called cul- 
tural studies, the capacity for hap- 
piness and fails to develop the 
financial power for gaining the 
same is a cruel, not a kindly sys- 
tem. It increases human misery and 
failure. The Ford idea, while in- 
creasing a man's capacity for happi- 
ness, at the same time increases his 
efficiency, his earning capacity, his 
home conditions, his knowledge of 
the laws of the state and the na- 
tion, making him a more valuable 
citizen, more worth-while to so- 
ciety, giving him a broader vision, 
all of which develops a man's mind 
while training his hands. 

205 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

The factory has two slogans: 
" Be a Good American/' and 
"Help the Other Fellow/ 5 You 
find these signs in the working sec- 
tion of the plant. The workmen are 
taught self-application of these 
slogans, even beneficially coerced 
into adapting them as life stand- 
ards. 

For five years foreign-born labor- 
ers have received diplomas sym- 
bolic of nine months' training in 
citizen-making. I sought a man to 
whom Mr. Ford had said : ' The 
Bible is the most valuable book in 
the world. If it could be written 
in the language of to-day, I would 
scatter a million copies among the 
people who never read it and who 
fail to grasp its worth and beauty/' 
I asked this man, Mr. Brownell, 
this question : " How has this great 
millionaire made the educational 

206 



'YLonest-to-Goodness Americanism 

department of this plant the very 
dynamo of its success, and why has 
he given a clergyman such wide 
and sweeping power? " 

Mr. Brownell took off his glasses 
and laid them carefully on the 
desk. " He does it by dispensing 
practical Christianity, interpreted 
through dollars and cents; in the 
sharing of profits with employees; 
in opening the doors of employ- 
ment to maimed and crippled men, 
and to men who have unfortunately 
run into debt to society, but who 
have paid such debts in full. His 
has been the humane recognition 
that all men are of common clay 
and that all, barring none, are en- 
titled to a helping hand. 

6 You shall meet Dean Marquis, 
head of the educational depart- 
ment, and Mr. DeWitt, head of the 
English school, which should really 

207 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

be called the American school, for 
its scholars are from fifty-eight 
countries and they speak one hun- 
dred different dialects. They have 
been taught one language and have 
been trained to become citizens of 
our own American nation. But first 
let me tell you an incident that will 
illustrate how men have been re- 
claimed in this factory. 

" One cold night in December an 
official of the company was called 
to the front door of his house. Out- 
side was the half-wreck of a man, 
who plunged into complaint with- 
out formality. ' They say Henry 
Ford gives the fellow who is down 
a chance — that he thinks there is 
some good in the worst of us, but 
it is a lie — a black, barefaced lie. 
I have stood in line at his plant 
trying to get work and never have 
been given a look-in. I'm at the 

208 



'YLonest-to-Goodness Americanism 

end of my rope and I've got to go 
back to my old ways/ 

" The company official inter- 
rupted him. ' Mr. Ford wants to 
give every man who deserves it a 
chance/ he said. The other man 
shivered. - Ever since they turned 
me loose, two years ago, I've tried 
to go straight, and every time I get 
a job a dick passes the word and 
I'm fired. If I can't get steady 
work I'll have to be a crook again. 
To-night they — " 

" ' Dont worry about to-night/ 
the company official told him; 
c come to the factory to-morrow and 
a place will be found for you. We 
have more than five hundred men 
who have served penitentiary sen- 
tences and only two of them have 
disappointed us. When you begin 
work no one will be against you 
so long as you do what is right/ 

209 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

Somewhere in that great factory 
that man made good and he is still 
working there. 

The probation period, formerly 
six months, has been reduced to 
thirty days, the minimum salary 
raised from five to six dollars a 
day. There have been no strikes 
nor is there any labor discontent. 
The power of discharge has been 
taken out of the hands of superin- 
tendents and foremen. They can 
discharge from their departments, 
but not from the factory. The em- 
ployment office investigates and 
places the laborer in that other de- 
partment to which he is better 
adapted. 

The Educational Department, 
through the advisors, or helpers, 
has a record of the living conditions 
of each employe. They know his 
habits, good or bad. They know 

210 



'Honest-to-Goodness' Americanism 

what money he has saved, if any. 
They know what insurance he car- 
ries. They consult with him as to 
his bank savings. They have taught 
him how and why to save. In rare 
cases they have moved his family 
to Detroit and provided a home in 
which to shelter them. There is 
nothing of the spy or detective 
methods in their visits. They go in 
the spirit of helpfulness and in- 
terest. They teach the employe 
hygienic living and how to buy 
food. While teaching him how to 
earn money they also teach him — 
which is more important — how to 
spend it. They have taught him 
that debt is the result of poor man- 
agement or misfortune. 

Take for example the case of an 
employee whose wages were gar- 
nisheed month after month. He 
was industrious and hard-working; 

211 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

the bills were not of his making. 
An advisor was sent to his home. 
He met the wife, a nice little 
woman who believed in a happy- 
go-lucky existence, and who made 
expenditures out of all keeping 
with her husband's salary. That 
she was a woman of sense was 
proven when she grasped the idea 
that this sort of thing could not 
continue. A scientific housekeeper 
was sent to instruct her in up-to- 
date economics. She welcomed the 
suggestions made. To-day the bills 
are paid, the man and his wife own 
their home and have money in the 
bank. 

There is another rule on which 
the cornerstone of right living 
must be laid — an employe, if it 
be thought justifiable, is required 
to produce his marriage license. No 
recognition is given socialism or 

212 



'Honest-to-Goodness' Americanism 

free love. This is mentioned be- 
cause a case of this sort was re- 
cently made an issue. An important 
ruling of the Ford company in 1913 
covers such questions. 

The legal department aids the 
workers by examining deeds to 
property they wish to buy, assess- 
ing its value and passing on the 
validity of the contracts. 

In the Ford English school are 
natives of Arabia, Persia, India, 
Poland, Armenia, Turkey, Chaldea, 
Albania, Serbia, Korea, Macedonia 
and other innermost parts of Asia, 
Europe and obscure regions of the 
world. Each of these foreigners 
speaks two or more dialects, but has 
no knowledge of our own language. 
They are taught reading, writing, 
arithmetic and grammar according 
to the modernized methods of Fran- 
cois Guoin, who lived in 1710. The 

213 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

everyday problems of life are the 
keynote of each lesson, and a new 
psychology of good fellowship and 
interest accents the instruction. Mr. 
DeWitt was recently borrowed by 
Pennsylvania to demonstrate to the 
teachers of that state his original 
experiments. Mr. Ford watches 
the lessons. The one on birds, 
which emphasizes the great Amer- 
ican bird, the soaring eagle, the em- 
blem of freedom, is his favorite. 
There are other lessons which Mr. 
Ford personally supervises — for 
this department is the child of his 
brain and is dear to his heart. The 
foreigners are taught cleanliness, 
table manners, courtesy in public 
places and also, when possible, they 
are instructed in gardening. As an 
evidence of the eager earnestness 
of the pupils the case may be cited 
of a Macedonian who learned the 

214 



'Honest-to-Goodness' Americanism 

Constitution of the United States 
verbatim in four days. 

The nine months' course has been 
turning out annually between three 
and six thousand graduates. The 
diplomas, signed by Henry Ford, 
Dean Marquis and Mr. DeWitt, 
state that ' the holder has been 
given ground work in English 
which enables him to write it and 
to read it within certain limitations. 
It gives him a definite comprehen- 
sion of the rudiments of govern- 
ment, national, state and munici- 
pal, and fits him to become a 
citizen of the United States and 
to understand the obligations 
thereof/ 5 

The day war was declared Mr. 
Ford instructed the chief of his 
medical staff to ascertain accurately 
the exact number of positions that 
might be filled with disabled sol- 

215 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

diers. Every wheel and cog of the 
factory was devoted to winning the 
war, and openings have been 
made for those who served. Dr. 
Mead reported that four thousand 
maimed and injured could be used. 
The factory was then using thirty- 
seven deaf men, two hundred and 
seven civilians blinded in one 
eye, sixteen who were deaf and 
dumb, and one totally blind. Be- 
fore peace was signed the Ford fac- 
tory had employed seven hundred 
and eighty-three disabled soldiers. 
Positions have been given to five 
thousand four hundred and eighty 
returned soldiers and sailors, and 
more are constantly being added. 
Direct instructions have been is- 
sued that soldiers are to be given 
preference over all other appli- 
cants. 

A great problem in every factory 

216 



6 Honest-to-Goodness* Americanism 

is tuberculosis. It has been demon- 
strated in the salvaging section that 
tubercular patients are as produc- 
tive as any other class of workmen. 
Hospital treatment is given free. 
The state law of compensation al- 
lows ten dollars weekly to a bed- 
ridden man; the Ford company 
gives eighteen to twenty dollars. 
Mr. Ford believes that regular 
wages and light work will drive 
away worry and expedite a man's 
recovery. Hence handiwork is tak- 
en each day to patients able to sit 
up, and they are enabled to earn 
full wages. 

Just as he conceived the perfec- 
tion of his tractor while on a vaca- 
tion by watching the movement of 
a horse's legs, so Mr. Ford's mind 
reaches out to help humanity. In- 
different to the usual hobbies and 
amusements of men of the world, 

217 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

he has his own interests and re- 
creations. He believes in practic- 
ing the gospel, " Give a man the 
chance he deserves, not charity. 5 ' 
The following incident is so un- 
usual as to seem improbable, yet it 
is true. As Mr. Ford was driving 
one day he passed a much be-drag- 
gled tramp to whom he gave a lift. 
The tramp claimed to be penniless 
and without work, and for that 
reason was walking to his sister's 
home in Connecticut. The next 
day he was given a position in the 
Ford plant. The employment of- 
fice was instructed to equip him 
with the necessary clothes and re- 
port his progress to the office. All 
moved smoothly for a while, but, 
unlike the usual fairy tale, the end 
of the month found a restless 
worker instead of a diligent one. 
He was moved to another depart- 

218 



6 Honest-to-Goodness' Americanism 

ment, but when pay day came his 
restlessness had grown to loud pro- 
tests, and to Mr. Ford was brought 
the news that wanderlust was beck- 
oning his protege, who had threat- 
ened to quit. 

"What's this I hear? 55 asked 
Mr. Ford when the prodigal came 
to his office. Into his ear was 
poured, forthwith, a story of home- 
sick yearning for the far-away sister 
that would have done credit to an 
expert. Mr. Ford listened patient- 
ly. ' See here, Bill," he said then, 
"you have no idea of going to Con- 
necticut. You don't want work or 
a home; you want to quit so that 
you can be a plain shiftless tramp." 

The ex-hobo studied the carpet. 

: Yes, that was it," he admitted. 

"A factory is no place for me; I'm 

lazy. I've lived the old life so long 

that I like it." 

219 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

"All right/' said Mr. Ford, "you 
can quit. I've told them not to 
bother with you any longer. But 
remember one thing, I am not going 
to let you slip back into your old 
ways. I'm going to employ a man 
to follow you everywhere you go 
and watch everything you do. If 
you ever feel sorry for the way you 
have treated me you can come back 
to your old place, provided you are 
willing to work. Until you do I 
am going to watch you every min- 
ute. Perhaps you will decide to 
brace up and be a man. 55 

"Gosh," said the surprised man. 
" If you are going to do that I 
might as well give in right now." 
This ex-tramp is now a faithful 
worker. Again the theory suc- 
ceeded. 

* * * * 

The next five years will witness 
220 



'Honest-to-Goodness' Americanism 

the most important readjustment 
period in our national history. It 
will be a time when capital and 
labor must throw off their shackles 
and meet on a middle ground of 
consideration, each recognizing the 
rights of the other. Organized 
labor will have to make great con- 
cessions. Capital will have to make 
even greater concessions. Neither 
group can strangle the other if 
the principles for which our boys 
fought and died are to survive. Is 
it right that the soldiers who fought 
to save this country be assailed by 
food profiteers, by rent pirateers, by 
selfish capitalists and dictated to by 
labor organizations? What is to 
be the ideal solution? Will prac- 
tical education be incorporated into 
the new order of industry? Is real 
Americanism to be the foundation 
stone of the nation, or will the 

221 



The Truth About Henry Ford 

country wait until the evil condi- 
tions of today become a menace? 
Are Henry Ford's theories and 
their practical workings during the 
last five years worth while? Many 
industries and department stores 
are putting the interests of their 
workers above the volume of their 
profits. They are doing their ut- 
most to benefit their workers, to 
pay them fair wages and to main- 
tain helpful welfare departments, 
somewhat similar to the Ford Edu- 
cational department. There are 
still some concerns where women 
and girls are paid wages that are 
disgraceful and utterly destructive 
to the morale of the country. Is it 
right or even necessary? Or is it 
better to give labor a square deal 
and to do it on the basis of honest- 
to-goodness Americanism? 
THE END 

222 



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